Abstract
Welfare to work interventions seek to move out-of-work individuals from claiming unemployment benefits towards paid work. However, previous research has highlighted that for over-50s, particularly those with chronic health conditions, participation in such activities are less likely to result in a return to work. Using longitudinal semi-structured interviews, we followed 26 over-50s during their experience of a mandated welfare to work intervention (the Work Programme) in the United Kingdom. Focusing on their perception of suitability, we utilise and adapt Candidacy Theory to explore how previous experiences of work, health, and interaction with staff (both in the intervention, and with healthcare practitioners) influence these perceptions. Despite many participants acknowledging the benefit of work, many described a pessimism regarding their own ability to return to work in the future, and therefore their lack of suitability for this intervention. This was particularly felt by those with chronic health conditions, who reflected on difficulties with managing their conditions (e.g., attending appointments, adhering to treatment regimens). By adapting Candidacy Theory, we highlighted the ways that mandatory intervention was navigated by all the participants, and how some discussed attempts to remove themselves from this intervention. We also discuss the role played by decision makers such as employment-support staff and healthcare practitioners in supporting or contesting these feelings. Findings suggest that greater effort is required by policy makers to understand the lived experience of chronic illness in terms of ability to RTW, and the importance of inter-agency work in shaping perceptions of those involved.
Highlights
This paper examines the perceptions of older people towards one of these interventions, the Work Programme (WP)
For participants on Job-seekers Allowance (JSA), adjudication was through the government's Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) that manages unemployment benefits
All participants in this study were assessed by a professional as being able to participate in the Work Programme
Summary
The data analysed and presented in this paper were collected as the qualitative component of a larger longitudinal mixed methods study looking at RTW in over-50s, “Supporting Older People into Employment” (SOPIE) (Brown et al, 2015, Neary et al, 2019). The letter informed participants that JN would be in contact to arrange a follow-up interview with them, and that the purpose of the second interview was to explore any changes that occurred in their lives over the interim period between waves one and two. Wave two data were coded by JN and RM, and explored instances of “change” in terms of biography, health, and occupation, and the interaction between micro and macro level contexts, whether changes in the participant's personal life (Lewis, 2007) impacted on their participation in the WP. We highlight those data where participants' belief in their candidacy had changed in the 12 months between interviews, whether it had remained the same, or whether another candidacy had emerged (e.g., “retirement”)
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