Short Abstract

ReAct embeds evaluation into test-and-learn approaches, aligning efforts across the employment sector. Through co-produced insights and adaptive methods, it has shaped employer engagement, recruitment, and participant support, translating evaluation into action.

Description

The Get Britain Working white paper highlights the need for systems change, supported by test and learn and adaptation. This session will explore how the ReAct Partnership* has integrated evaluative thinking into test-and-learn environments across the employment sector. The ReAct Partnership is an industry-led, active collaboration to support a continuous improvement community in the Restart programme through action research, shared and iterative learning, and the development of applied, evidence-based resources.

At the heart of ReAct is a commitment to co-produced evaluation, funded and overseen by the Restart Prime Providers. Practitioners, policymakers, and other stakeholders are actively involved in shaping evaluation questions, interpreting findings, and driving change. This approach ensures that evaluation is relevant, grounded in context, and more likely to influence decisions.

The session will highlight three case examples where ReAct has contributed to positive outcomes and influenced action. First, in shaping how organisations engage employers. Second, in workforce recruitment and development, where evaluation insights prompted a redesign of recruitment processes to attract candidates from a wider range of backgrounds. Third, in shaping participant support, ReAct developed targeted resources such as carers webinars and top tips sheets to improve engagement and outcomes.

The session will reflect on how this change was achieved through action evaluation, including how evaluation is resourced, when and how evaluation questions are agreed, and how findings are shared. The session will also reflect on challenges and lessons for the evaluation community, including funding for non-traditional evaluation activity across organisations, building trust for collaborative evaluation, creating impact with the right audiences and ensuring timely evaluation insights.

*The ReAct Partnership is co-funded by the eight ‘prime providers’ for the Restart programme — FedCap Employment, AKG, G4S, Ingeus, Maximus, Reed, Seetec and Serco — and is being managed by the Institute of Employment Studies (IES), working alongside the Institute for Employability Professionals (IEP) and the Employment Related Services Association (ERSA).