Welcome to this first blog from the Talent Match evaluation team at CRESR, Sheffield Hallam University. Over the course of the programme myself and colleagues will be posting blogs reflecting on different aspects of the programme. Some of these will draw on evidence we’ve collected from you as part of the evaluation; some will be from other evaluation evidence; and some will be reflections of policy agendas. We hope these will be of use. Above all we want to use the blogs to stimulate discussion and feedback; whether you agree or disagree we’d welcome your input.

There’s a risk in a first blog to try to cover too much. All I will do here is draw a few reflections:

• Innovation: the involvement of young people is genuinely innovative and challenging norms of working; not least because it is involving 18-24 year olds a group overlooked in previous involvement work
• Partnerships took different forms, some built on established relationships whilst others involved organisations new to particular areas.
• Interventions ranged from therapeutic activities to raise confidence and improve mental health through to wage subsidies. What underpinned most work though was outreach.

There are also many unanswered questions. Will the young people supported get better jobs than they would otherwise? Will these jobs be fulfilling? What other support have projects brought, such as improved confidence or addressing barriers to housing? And what will be left in place after Talent Match?

Feedback from many partnerships is that they are working with many young people who face multiple barriers in re-entering the labour market. Analysis of the Common Data Framework will allow us to understand these challenges in more detail and to an extent which has not been possible before.

All the research publications from the evaluation can be found here. http://www.shu.ac.uk/research/cresr/ourexpertise/talent-match-evaluation-and-learning-contract

Peter Wells