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There are over two million lone-parent families in the UK, including one in three children. Since the late 1990s, the key policy targets have included raising employment rates and reducing in-work poverty. Researchers at the University of Bath have engaged in innovative and influential research on lone parenthood over many years. Our work has been instrumental in the development and evaluation of policies intended to help lone parents move into, and remain in, work. Specifically, our research has influenced the design and delivery of the New Deal for Lone Parents, Tax Credits, and policies to improve lone parent job retention. These policies have a direct and ongoing impact on the social and economic circumstances, and quality of life, of the families.
The research findings improved the comparative evidence base used by policy makers, providers and advocacy organisations when designing and delivering contracted out welfare to work programmes in the UK, including the development of service user safeguards implemented through the Department of Work and Pensions `Commissioning Strategy' and Work Programme (which will cater for over 3 million unemployed participants between 2011 and 2016). The research findings have also had a wider impact in informing policy makers, providers and user groups in other countries that have introduced or are introducing such contracting systems.
King's research in the field of ESOL has had an impact on the education of the most marginalised communities in society by contributing to changes to the national strategy for improving adults' basic skills, the Skills for Life strategy. In particular, the research has informed (i) revisions to the Core Curriculum for Adult ESOL in England and Wales, (ii) guidelines to support the implementation of the national standards for teachers of English in FE, (iii) the development of materials for teaching English to adult migrants, which are widely used in the training of ESOL teachers and in ESOL classrooms, and (iv) the development of employment-related English language programmes and materials. The research also informed two successful campaigns to maintain ESOL provision in the face of threatened cuts.
Alliance research has driven forward a radically different, prevention-based approach to homelessness, internationally. Good practice guidance for Government contributed to a steep decline in `statutory homelessness' in England in the late 2000s (48% in the period 2006-2009) and directly led to the establishment of a national government framework for monitoring homelessness prevention activity. The same study influenced the Federal Governments of Australia and the US and influenced guidance by the US National Alliance to End Homelessness. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has said of work on multiple exclusion homelessness "its impact on thinking and on practice cannot be over stated". The research has re-shaped the national strategic approach to homelessness prevention in England, is a key underpinning of LankellyChase's new £5M per annum investment strategy and has been used by stakeholders globally, including the European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless and the Council to Homeless Persons in Australia.
Research conducted by John Turnpenny shaped the recommendations of the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee (EAC). In 2010, the EAC addressed the need to embed sustainable development across government policy-making. This followed the closure of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP) and the end of funding for the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC). The EAC determined to change how it engaged with experts, while reaffirming and expanding its role in the overall scrutiny of government sustainability policy. Turnpenny's findings formed the basis of two of the thirteen headline recommendations in the EAC's 2011 report Embedding Sustainable Development Across Government. In addition his suggestions helped influence significant changes in the way that the EAC operates, and contributed to its wider impact among other policy actors.
Nancy Cartwright has undertaken highly influential research on causation, evidence for causes, and the generalizability of evidence from one context to another. This work influenced a number of bodies looking into practical issues of evidence and policy-making both in the UK and the US and led to her being extensively consulted by those bodies — consultations which led to direct impacts on policy. This case-study concentrates on three Impacts from the UK: (a) a Department for International Development [DFID] Study Group aimed at improving methods for evaluating the effectiveness of aid interventions; (b) a body consisting of a number of institutions concerned with mental health aimed at influencing the way NICE evaluates evidence for psychological ("talking") therapies; and (c) Professor Eileen Munro's investigation into Child Care in the UK, leading to her extremely influential Report.
Rapid response reports, commissioned from the IOE's Thomas Coram Research Unit (TCRU) by the Departments for Education and Health specifically to inform policy-making, have helped to determine the financial and practical support for disadvantaged families and children in England for more than a decade. This important series of reports has achieved impact not only by producing robust findings that government departments can rely on but by building relationships of trust and mutual understanding between national policy-makers and researchers.
Work-related stress and work-life conflict are the biggest health and safety challenges in the UK with considerable costs to the economy as well as employees and their families. Research conducted by Professor Kinman over the last 15 years has made a significant contribution to enhancing knowledge of the mechanisms underpinning work-related well-being and ways in which this can be enhanced. In recognition of the unique nature of Kinman's work, the UoB is widely recognised as a centre of excellence in this field. Kinman has advised organisations, predominantly in the public sector, on ways to manage stress and enhance work-life balance and resilience. The significance and reach of this work has been demonstrated, most notably with academic employees and social workers. It has been used to develop interventions and informed changes to policy and practice at a national level in these sectors.
This research informed the introduction and on-going implementation of a major criminal policy innovation, namely, Pre-Trial Witness Interviewing (PTWI) by Crown Prosecutors across England and Wales. It was conducted in partnership with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), and provided independent evaluation of PTWI as an integral component of the piloting phase prior to national roll-out. The research formed part of the initial PTWI training of selected Crown Prosecutors and, following roll-out, continued to serve as a resource for frontline prosecutors, affecting case progression, complainants' experiences and the outcomes of criminal cases (prominently including serious sexual assaults and domestic violence).
As a direct result of methodological research led by Professor Ray Pawson at Leeds, `realist evaluation' has provided a new lens through which to assess and develop social programmes. It has critically changed the apparatus of evidenced-based policy and the way in which policy research is commissioned and utilised. Through advisory work, training package provision, partnership-research and professional exchange, this `realist' perspective has formed a new standard in social programme evaluation, and is used by commissioners in the UK and internationally to frame their interventions across policy domains, including education, environment, criminal justice, and health and social care.