In @thetimes.com, L&W chief exec @stephenevans.bsky.social welcomes the Government's plans to increase job support for people on sickness benefits. Stephen said this would refocus support to people who get little help today, but called for a broader plan to engage people and offer a range of help.

It’s journalism’s obesogenic environment problem. Everyone knows you’re meant to eat your greens (speak to domain experts, double-check), but social media has created a sea of cheap and convenient (open an app), hyper-palatable (sensationalised, alarmist), nutrient-poor (dubious veracity) options.

NEET rates are soaring. This is well known by Gvt, who rightly fear a generation of young people unable to get out of the starting blocks. BUT new @learnworkuk.bsky.social research today reveals only 1 in 4 are getting supported to find work via the benefits system. www.ft.com/content/f04d...

And, perhaps more consequentially, Jacqui Smith isn’t leaving DfE - she’s becoming a joint DWP/DfE skills minister. Which presumably means that she will have more influence in DWP, but I imagine not much of the policy work/people will move? Not necessarily a bad thing - certainly less disruptive.

Just clocked that Alison McGovern has been moved out of the Employment brief. I’m sad about this. She seemed a proper employment nerd. DWP reform agenda has felt a little disjointed over the last year - but the energy & ideas were all there, with lots of scope to learn and move forward positively.

1. Looks like skills is moving to DWP. What might this mean? I assume it's 19+ funding, which these days is the Adult Skills Fund (£1.5bn, 2/3 devolved to mayors) & apprenticeships (£3bn, inc small numbers of 16-19s). All Govt structures create silos. You need to pick least bad & work around them.

4. There's an opportunity too: half of people with low literacy or numeracy are out of work. How about an essential skills guarantee for everyone on benefits, giving them a chance to gain these fundamental skills? Or making the Youth Guarantee truly joined up? Or more ambitious devo in England?

Adult skills has been unloved at DfE, which has always felt like the department for children, schools and families at heart. Alison McGovern has called DWP as 'the HR department for the growth mission'. This change could/should bring that closer to reality.

Welcome back (by the sounds of it) the DfES! We looked at shifting 19+ skills funding to DWP when I worked in govt. Ultimately decided the location of the policy area wasn't the key thing that had held it back. But will be interesting to see if this leads to a genuine change of approach.

🧵@learnworkuk.bsky.social is leading a pilot of community-led employment support programme, JobsPlus, which is making a real impact. 📈 Over 700 people engaged 💼 150 already in work ❤️ Many heartwarming stories of lives changed You can find more info in our PR here: www.fenews.co.uk/education/mo...

I have found my people: people who look at the labour market data, then also look at the chatter on the UK employment subreddits, and go "huh?" I'm so interested in research that is working out how to use this kind of posting data as a potential leading indicator of labour market change.

Reminder that functional skills already allowed, it’s not GCSE over & over. Condition of funding means so many more have gained skills they need. Will stripped down functional skills be credible with employers? www.thetimes.com/uk/education...

Hear unique insights from the early stages of the JobsPlus pilot programme in England... 💡 ...at our webinar on Tuesday 16 September! L&W is leading the JobsPlus pilot programme with support from Communities that Work, @employmentstudies.bsky.social and Youth Futures Foundation. Register now. ⬇️

Really enjoyed today's webinar on this topic. My question: If there's going to be more flex to spend the levy on different forms of provision... ❓Do suitable courses/accreditations already exist? ❓Where they don't, how can we support the provider market to develop and deliver them?

Blaming entire Labour market slowdown on decisions made at Budget 24 doesn't stack up. It's a complicated picture, of course, but a lot of the reporting on this is too narrowly focussed on those specific policy decisions. Falsely simplifying the issue will delay proper solutions from arising.

1. Labour market continues to cool. Payroll employment trending down & vacancies falling for 37th month in a row. Not going off a cliff, but definite downward trend. Average pay growth easing. But at 5% (ex bonuses) still above level consistent with inflation target, given weak productivity growth.

It’s labour market stats day tomorrow 🎉. Here’s what I’ll be trying to fathom 👀. 1. Are employers hiring/firing? The big Q: what impact is NICs/minimum wage/tariffs/global uncertainty etc etc having on labour demand. Tomorrow morning we’ll get new data on vacancies, and redundancy notices.

Through Universal Credit, DWP (after failure, challenge & change) created in-house expertise to successfully deliver a complex digital service. A shame that experience has dissipated to the extent that this kind of work is getting outsourced. Seems at odds with this Gvt's wider ambitions.

Advanced Manufacturing firms can't get apprentices in key roles, because funding bands make them financially unviable for providers to deliver. Exactly the kind of issue Skills England needs to unpick. Recommend watching the whole of this enlightening session here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtIN...

Second week in a new job, so I have of course taken the afternoon off to see the Oval Invincibles get demolished at Lords. Following in the footsteps of some great policy leaders I’m sure (@jillongovt.bsky.social springs to mind…)

I’ve looking for some (robust) balance to doomish threads on the impact of AI. This German study finds robots are not taking jobs away from theoretically vulnerable workers in highly-robiticised firms - nor are they driving wage inequality in those orgs. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Skipping into work this morning on day 3 of the new job, ready for another day of expanding my labour market policy and research brain to the rest of the life course. Thanks to the @learnworkuk.bsky.social team for a lovely welcome!

Malnutrition with use of GLP-1 agonists is an underestimated real world harm www.bmj.com/content/390/... Surprise!!! Things you won't get breathless headlines in the newspapers about (Or see in the lovely leaflets the rep left at reception)

1. New data shows employers investing 36% less in training per employee than in 2005 in real terms. This is both a cause and consequence of low economic growth & policy instability. It comes alongside a £1bn (20%) real terms cut in Government investment in adult skills in England compared to 2010.

My former IfG colleagues have written this excellent blog on lessons from the Turner Commission for the new Pensions Commission. Let’s apply their top tips to another current “review”: the Mayfield Review into getting employers more active on health and work. How does that measure up? 🧵

In this month’s edition of “what on earth is going on in the labour market at the moment?”…

*reading this @samfr.bsky.social post, nodding* Public sector procurement rules are ridiculously obstructive *reading this FT article on Reform DOGE’s data access woes* I love rules on.ft.com/4eRsE1p

To counter-act the mass wincing, can we share some papers that we think avoid these pitfalls? Eg. this @centreforcities.bsky.social paper does, because it makes the choices clear, and shows why some should be plumped for over others www.centreforcities.org/publication/...

NEW: Commissioned by @local.gov.uk, L&W has produced‬ top tips to support local government to develop a high quality Connect to Work service. These top tips cover the benefits of Connect to Work, how it can be best used, and how it can be aligned to other council and external work.

Cc @gavinfreeguard.bsky.social

Geoff Mulgan rails against the lack of political and press interest in "how" to get stuff done in Govt. There are Gov-specific issues here, but it also mirrors the lack of interest and investment in leadership and management skills across our economy. geoffmulgan.substack.com/p/in-praise-...

"The costs and hardship for people will come out somewhere unless you deal with the underlying issues." Great to see L&W chief exec @stephenevans.bsky.social quoted in this @financialtimes.com article on the need for systemic reform of the welfare system. 📰

This is appalling. Both in substance & how it was done. @financialfairness.bsky.social is a crucial part of funding infrastructure for vital work on living standards & inequality. Gutting it with no notice & not even reassurances for grantees is really terrible. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Coleen’s key message to employers: “We may be in our 60s, but we’re not over the hill” Noreen’s message (paraphrased): “We need to do more to support people in their 50s and 60s” Couldn’t be more on message if I’d scripted it myself! #EmpSkills25

“She made me feel like a person”. Amazing testimony from a Work and Health participant and work coach duo. But the big barrier Coleen is facing? Ageism. If you want to know more about how we’re trying to change employer attitudes to 50+ workers, I will be discussing at the 3pm panel. #EmpSkills25

Stimulating start to #EmpSkills25 talking about skills development and talent pipelines into advanced manufacturing and engineering. 💡Lots of energy in sector if Gvt can convene 💡Skills gaps, skills shortages and people gaps are different things 💡If you want a safe job, become a welder

One thing that's troubling me about this whole debacle, is that these cuts sort of were - tacitly - included in the manifesto. It's another symptom of the inability of 2020s politicians to talk about trade-offs (or they challenges they face doing so, if you're feeling charitable). 1/6

This is why "wait for labour supply issues due to falling immigration to bite" is such a risky strategy when thinking about the demand-side of the economic inactivity/Disability employment equations.

Rt Hon Alan Milburn has the politician’s gift for a pithy phrase (not derogatory, in his case). “We used to have a cyclical unemployment problem, now we have a structural worklessness problem”. “The Gvt needs to look at this through an economic lens, not just a fiscal lens”. #workhealthsummit

Sir Charlie Mayfield’s thinking has clearly advanced since he visited us 6 weeks ago. But the really interesting stuff - the proposed solutions - are yet to come. He hinted a bit at incentives for individuals to engage in support, & also talked about “systems”. Lots on SMEs. #workhealthsummit

"Proliferation... is not about copying prototypes wholesale, nor about enforcing a top-down model of “scaling.” Rather, it is about growing ideas through distributed leadership, learning, and iteration." www.mutualventures.co.uk/post/sustain... Worth a read, is this by @andrewlaird.bsky.social

I read this piece partly as a call for “boldness” in Government. Anyone who shares Giles’ “darkest fears” should be heartened by the appointment of Janet Hughes to the DG Civil Service Reform role. See this from 2016: www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/...

1. Some definite warning signs in the labour market with payroll employment down 274k on the year & vacancies now 83k down on pre-pandemic. Caution that data subject to significant revision & LFS & Workforce Jobs tell slightly different story. So warning signs rather than definite trouble.

Falling task discretion means UK employers are going in the wrong direction if they want to make the most of an older workforce. Low task discretion cancels out the benefits of experience. It makes work less sustainable. This is not what a longevity economy looks like. www.ft.com/content/4526...

If agentic AI is doing all the routine tasks, then our job is to make strategic decisions that point it at the right thing: clarifying out aims, and making choices about the best way to achieve them. i.e. The type of thinking that seems completely missing from most AI implementation…

This article prompted a rich and hopeful conversation in my household this morning. It’s an article that explores and - by its very existence - demonstrates the value of human thought and knowledge-work in an AI-laden world. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

And people in later life with MSK conditions often also have poor mental health and are at risk of isolation - much of this related to chronic pain There aren't any easy solutions out there and it's not an area where AI will directly increase system capacity & capability

The Government needs to see bigger improvements in back-to-work support for older workers than any other group: 📌Most likely to be hit by PIP reductions 📌Greatest capacity to reach the 80% employment target 📌Currently, worst outcomes from back-to-work support But so far...

Want to know whether the Gvt's plans to get Disabled people back-to-work will actually work? The L&W team have crisply laid out the impact of 10 previous programmes & made a clear, robust estimate of the potential impact of the planned ££⬆️. This kind of work makes me v excited for my new job...

We're thrilled to announce our new Director of Policy and Research: @emilyishness.bsky.social! ⭐ Emily will join us from @ageingbetter.bsky.social and will hold overall responsibility for research, policy and development across L&W. Find out more: learningandwork.org.uk/news-and-pol...