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Employment support programmes are often less effective for participants in their fifties and sixties. In response, the Centre for Ageing Better, the Institute of Employability Professionals and Ingeus/APM partnered up to pilot training for employability workers. The training was piloted with Key Workers on the Work and Health Programme in Greater Manchester, supported by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. The online training modules aimed to improve the Key Workers’ understanding of the barriers that older participants face and how to better support them, in order to improve outcomes for this cohort.

SQW undertook the evaluation of the training. This built on SQW's ongoing evaluation of the Work and Health programme since 2018. The evaluation used baseline and follow-up surveys plus focus groups with Key Workers and participants, and analysis of routine monitoring data. The methodology was based around the Kirkpatrick Model.

The evaluation found that Key Workers improved their knowledge of the common barriers, prejudices and biases faced by older people. Key Workers reported greater confidence, and being better able to support participants with these barriers and to counter age discrimination. The training was particularly impactful for those who felt less equipped to support people in their fifties and sixties beforehand, as well as for newer and younger frontline staff. The full report can be downloaded here and a blog post from the Centre for Ageing Better about the results of our evaluation is also available here.