The third sector as an employability partner for people with barriers to employment: Insights from Community Jobs Scotland
Community Jobs Scotland (CJS) is an employability programme that funds work placements in the third sector for young people with significant barriers to the labour market to gain experience and on the job training within the third sector. It has been in operation in Scotland for a decade and is funded by the Scottish Government and run by SCVO, who have provided the data analysed in this report.
This report analyses quantitative data from 2016/17 to 2019/20 and insights from a small number of in-depth interviews of account managers to provide evidence on impact, value for money, and the lessons learnt that could be applied elsewhere. The findings suggest that the scheme has been able to help around 40% of participants to move into paid work after the placements finish, with slightly higher rates for people with disabilities.
The cost of CJS is higher on average than for Fair Start Scotland but, given available data, it is difficult to know how comparable cost-effectiveness estimates are. We also do not know the counterfactual, for example, whether the young people who succeed in CJS would be successful in other employability programmes such as FSS.
In the qualitative research, all those interviewed pointed to the suitability of the third sector for supporting people with sometimes complex additional support needs in their first step into the labour market due to the empathy they demonstrate and the flexibility they can offer.
