Personal Advisers Research Articles

Safeguarding, uncertainty and new possibilities: an appreciative inquiry into personal adviser’s relational practice with care leavers

Purpose An appreciative inquiry process was collaboratively undertaken with an inner city local authority and personal advisors where systemic social work practice was embedded. The purpose of this study is to explore how systemic social work principles could be integrated into the support of young adults leaving the care system, especially when safeguarding concerns exist. Design/methodology/approach Three fortnightly, reflecting team-style, appreciative inquiry workshops explored the integration into practice of systemic concepts under the themes of safeguarding, uncertainty and new possibilities. Findings Within the contexts of the organisation, other agencies and the relationship, six paired themes emerged: learning and navigating; positioning and risk-taking; and feeling and engaging. Core systemic concepts, such as self-reflexivity and mutual influence, can enable personal advisers to use themselves and their relationship with care leavers as a context for change. Considering responses to risk from different family member positions may support holding greater levels of uncertainty. Seeing resilience as a process rather than a personal attribute enabled personal advisors to think about how they connected with care leavers through shared life experiences, fostering narratives of hopes and dreams where new possibilities abound. Research limitations/implications Appreciative inquiry is generally seen as a defined model for implementing large organisational changes; this study comprised a small sample group, and the model’s application was less defined. Originality/value A gap exists in the extensive care leaver research, addressing safeguarding and working systemically. A conceptual model for practice is offered, with potential utility in developing further systemically informed training and supervision for practitioners. A less structured and more relationally engaged model for appreciative inquiry is presented.

Coaches support young people to find stability

Settle's personal advisers give care-experienced young adults the practical and emotional support they need to successfully transition to independent living

Digital Transformation in the FinTech Sector

This paper mainly analyzed the specific application of fintech technology in different aspects, and the changes this emerging technology can bring to people's lives. In terms of the payment system, the formation of oligopoly may lead to serious uneven market competition. Although clients with personal advisers are less likely to trust the services of robots, robo-advice can provide better investment advice to ordinary people and expand the benefit group. For P2P lending, this is a new lending model, eliminating the tedious steps and high fees of the middleman. Virtual currency as an original application of blockchain is the financial derivative that threatened the financial money investment market. The author explained how to benefit more consumers through fintech technology, and the progress of technology enables customers of different classes to have better service experience. The digitalization process of financial services promotes economic development and can provide customers with more inclusive and professional financial services. Fintech has gradually changed the pattern of the financial industry, gradually weakened the role of financial intermediaries, and created a new operating system.

Personal advisers build strong relationships with care leavers in Oldham

Personal advisers build strong relationships with care leavers in Oldham

Supporting elite athletes in a new age: experiences of personal excellence advisers within Australia’s high-performance sporting environment

ABSTRACTTraditional career assistance programs focused on the provision of vocational and educational support for elite athletes. Following a recent shift towards the provision of holistic support services for these athletes, the purpose of this research was to explore the newly developed Personal Excellence (PE) adviser role within Australia’s high-performance sport system. The current investigation was exploratory in nature and examined the PE role, adviser experiences and essential services provided by these advisers in supporting Australia’s elite athletes. Utilising an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), six individuals (Mage = 47.0, SD = 28.6) who were employed in a PE position within Australia’s National Institute Network participated in this study. In analysing the data according to IPA guidelines, six superordinate themes were identified: a) rationale for change; (b) program architecture; (c) essential services; (d) fundamental skills and qualities; (e) limiting factors; and (f) future opportunities. Consistent with IPA conventions, a thematic map was generated to illustrate the relationship between these factors. As the first empirical study of the PE program, this paper makes a valuable contribution to understanding the role of support programs in the elite sporting landscape and enhances the growing evidence-base on the provision of career assistance and wellbeing programs for elite athletes.

Twelve tips for personal advisers to undergraduate medical students

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Most Higher Educational institutes have a system whereby a member of staff is identified as the student's personal adviser. The adviser's role is to offer advice and guidance, commonly for the full duration of the student's program. This is an important responsibility as it can involve a complex mixture of advice relating to academic support, pastoral concerns and health issues, as well as professionalism development. Despite the adviser being a key person in delivering the institution's duty of care, there is very little training and guidance for the teaching staff themselves when undertaking this role. Different Universities will use different titles for such a role and when using the term 'personal adviser' within this paper, the content can be transferable to any tutor whose role is to advise on a one to one basis. The aim of this paper is to offer suggestions and strategies for tutors to consider in order to support individual students in a holistic manner, and generate a discussion on the challenges to achieving effective individual support in a demanding higher education environment.

Experiences from the frontline: An exploration of personal advisers' practice with claimants who have health-related needs within UK welfare-to-work provision.

Recent UK welfare reforms have been less successful than expected by the Government in supporting unemployed people with long-term illness into work. Frontline workers remain a core element of the new welfare-to-work machinery, but operate within a changed organisational and policy landscape. These changes raise important questions regarding whether and how claimants' health-related barriers to work are considered. This paper examines the UK welfare-to-work frontline worker's role with claimants who have long-term illness. Fieldwork observations in three not-for-profit employment support services and semi-structured interviews with 29 participants (claimants, frontline workers, healthcare professionals and managers) were conducted between 2011 and 2012. Participant observation of the wider welfare-to-work arena was initiated in 2009 and continued until 2013. A qualitative methodology drawing on ethnographic principles was adopted. Thematic analysis of the data was carried out. The findings show that the frontline worker plays a key role in assessing and addressing claimants' health-related barriers to work. Two important health-related role dimensions were identified: a health promoter role which involved giving health promotional advice to claimants about their general health; and a health monitor role which involved observing and questioning claimants about their general health. Frontline workers' practice approaches were shaped by organisational and individual factors. Integration between the National Health Service and employment support services was limited, and the findings suggested improvements were required to ensure an adequate response to claimants' health-related needs to support their journey into work.

Multilingual Competences and Labour Market Access: The Point of View of Swiss Personal Advisers in the Regional Employment Centres

Since the creation of regional employment centres in Switzerland, personal advisers and consultants have been playing an important role in the assessment of the unemployed and the jobseekers’ language skills and their promotion. In this study, 646 of these personal advisers from the three main speaking areas of Switzerland (French, German and Italian) were interviewed via an online questionnaire on how they practically assess the language skills of the jobseekers they deal with; on the reasons they do or not recommand and provide language courses; and on how these courses should be financed. There were also more general questions about the link between language skills and the labour market. Statistically significant differences were observed, for instance regarding the quality of the language-competence evaluation tools; the evaluated importance of language skills for labour market integration; and the relevance of language courses for jobseekers. A correlation was observed between these significant differences and two factors: the linguistic area and the unemployment rate in a given area. Some problematic issues of political interest linked to language skills and job recovery were also highlighted and discussed in this paper.

Stand By Me – Flexible and Holistic Support for Young Care Leavers: Smoothing Transitions from Care

Young people placed in out-of-home care (OHC) through Child Protection in Victoria are formally discharged by the expiration of their care order at the age of 18 years or younger. In contrast, young people in Australia generally live in their family home with parents or carers well into their twenties. Whilst there are a range of leaving care and post-care services funded for care leavers, these supports tend to be temporary and discretionary in contrast to the ongoing support young people receive whilst in care or, in some cases, from family and social networks post care. Numerous studies have documented the developmental challenges experienced by young people leaving state care, and the often poor outcomes faced by this group. The Stand By Me (SBM) programme was developed in Victoria to replicate the ongoing support provided in the UK to care leavers by Personal Advisers who remain available to assist young people until 21 years of age. Evaluation of the SBM programme has shown that ongoing, holistic support, including housing support, has assisted 12 young people through the SBM pilot to access stable housing, address multiple and complex issues, and form trusting relationships with SBM workers that contribute to positive outcomes.

Effects of commitment on intentional loyalty at the person-to-person and person-to-firm levels

This study explores how customers’ affective commitment and calculative commitment to the personal adviser and bank, respectively, affect their intentional loyalty to the personal adviser and bank. Data were collected using a web survey of mass affluent customers of a major Swedish bank. Responses were measured and analysed using factor, correlation, and regression analyses. The results reveal that the person-to-person and person-to-firm loyalty categories are influenced by affective and calculative commitment to the personal advisor and by affective commitment to the bank, but not by calculative commitment to the bank. Moreover, there is a strong relationship between customer loyalty to the personal adviser and to the bank. It can be concluded that affective commitment has a stronger overall impact on customer loyalty than does calculative commitment, indicating the importance of creating affective ties with customers, and that personal advisers are central to bank – customer relationships. The importance of financial issues to mass affluent customers implies that both affective commitment and calculative commitment to the personal adviser are important in building customer loyalty to a bank or brand.

Welfare reform, increased conditionality and discretion: Jobcentre Plus advisers’ experiences of targets and sanctions

This article presents empirical findings from part of a larger study on welfare reform conducted between 2007 and 2009. Semi-structured in-depth interviews occurred with eight Incapacity Benefit personal advisers, and Work Focused Interviews conducted by advisers with Incapacity Benefit claimants were observed. Two areas of advisers’ experience will be discussed. First, how advisers were subjected to the need to comply with directives, and how their performance was monitored via targets. Second, the article will examine advisers’ attitudes and behaviours towards sanctions, which were primarily used against those who did not attend compulsory Work Focused Interviews (DWP, 2002).

Students' Perceptions of a Scaffolded Approach to Learning Financial Planning: An Empirical Study

In the aftermath of the global financial crisis (GFC), one understandable area of scrutiny and pressure for reform is the educational background and professionalism of personal financial advisers. This Australian study reports on a three-year investigation into students' perceptions of ‘scaffolded’ instruction in financial planning. The scaffolded approach was used to assist learning in areas that previously had caused difficulty. The results indicate that students perceived the scaffolded tasks to be valuable learning experiences which increased their appreciation of the skills and knowledge required by financial advisers. Although students may bring different frames of reference to their learning, and the positiveness of perceived value of scaffolded instruction may vary between different demographic groupings, scaffolding techniques are shown to provide strong potential to assist university educators and their students in financial planning.

Education and training for young people at risk of becoming NEET: findings from an ethnographic study of work‐based learning programmes

This report provides a summary of findings from an ethnographic study of work‐based learning provision for 16–18‐year‐olds who would otherwise fall into the UK Government category of not in education, employment or training (NEET). The research project took place in the north of England during 2008–2009, and investigated the biographies, experiences and aspirations of young people and practitioners working on Entry to Employment (E2E) programmes in four learning sites. The detailed research findings are reported in four papers covering the conceptual background to E2E, and the experiences of learners, tutors and Connexions personal advisers involved with the programme. This report highlights and synthesises some of the key issues raised by these papers and looks ahead to a three‐year longitudinal study of NEET young people which is intended to continue and extend this work, providing an opportunity to follow this group during a period of far‐reaching economic and political change.

Suburban Employment Trends: A Melbourne Case Study

Suburban Employment Trends: A Melbourne Case Study

Responding to the ‘needs’ of young people in jobs without training (JWT): some policy suggestions and recommendations

In this paper we draw upon our findings from a project in the South West region of England. The research involved a collaboration between a group of university researchers and Connexions service personal advisers and mainly comprised interviews with young people, who were in ‘jobs without training’ (JWT). A key aim of the research was to explore the experiences of this group of marginalised and socially disadvantaged young people over a period of 1 year, as they moved into and out of work. In this paper we address the main findings and questions raised by the research. We challenge some commonly held assumptions about young people in JWT and their perceived needs. We end with a number of policy and practice-related suggestions and recommendations.

Local differences, perceptions and Incapacity Benefit claimants: implications for policy delivery

Geographical unevenness in labour market and social conditions is one reason why the ‘local’ has been emphasised increasingly in the delivery of labour market policy in the UK. This article explores the extent to which there are local differences in labour market conditions using the characteristics and experiences of Incapacity Benefit (IB) claimants in Northern Ireland as an example. It then offers some comments on the potential for policy initiatives to cope with these spatial variations. Evidence from a survey of 803 IB claimants is used, supplemented by focus group material derived from discussions with Personal Advisers (PAs). The article shows that whilst there are important variations between areas, largely in the quantity and quality of jobs, and the perceptions that IB claimants hold of their local labour markets, there are also similarities in the general types of labour market barriers they face across areas. There is some evidence, however, to conclude that these barriers in urban areas are particularly pronounced and that some IB claimants in these places face severer obstacles to re-integration in the labour market than those in rural areas. The article also suggests that policy delivery to cope with these geographical differences faces two problems. First, capacity to respond to local differences is limited by strong systemic impulses towards centralisation. Secondly, and paradoxically, local differences erode capacity to respond to severer urban problems because social/institutional capacity within providers and policy-deliverers in these places is limited by high staff turnover and a crowded institutional landscape.

Playing the numbers game: Connexions personal advisers working with learners on entry to employment programmes

Transitions of young people from school to employment, further education or training have been a focus of government policy in the UK for at least the last three decades. Since the late 1990s, numerous policy initiatives have been introduced by New Labour in an attempt to reduce social exclusion through the increased participation of young people in work‐related training. This paper reports on a mixed‐methods research project exploring Entry to Employment (E2E) provision in the north of England. It outlines the experiences of Connexions practitioners working with learners and staff at four E2E providers and illustrates the complexities involved with young people's transitions to and from E2E programmes. The paper shows that a marketised system driven by targets and funding constraints can compromise the ability of practitioners to best meet the needs of young people struggling with often difficult circumstances.

The role of the Connexions service in supporting the transition from school to post‐16 education, employment training and work for young people with a history of specific speech and language difficulties or learning difficulties

The transition from school to the world of post‐compulsory education is a major landmark in the lives of young people with special educational needs (SEN). In England the Connexions service set up to support young people during transition was planned to provide both a universal service and one that provided special support to vulnerable young people, particularly those at risk of not being in education, employment or training (NEET). The present paper reports the findings of a study of 46 Connexions personal advisers (PAs) who were supporting young people with specific speech and language difficulties (SSLD) or general learning difficulties, as part of a longitudinal study of these young people's development. Interviews were held with the PAs to identify patterns of organisation, the nature of services delivered to these young people and the factors that influenced successful support. The findings highlight the diversity among Connexions services, the limited expertise with young people with SEN and the structural barriers that may limit effectiveness. In addition, the Assessment, Planning, Implementation and Review Framework was not consistently used. The Connexions service has the potential to provide important support to young people with SEN at this key transition point but our study indicates the need for modifications to its operation.

Action to Reduce Worklessness: What Works?

Addressing local concentrations of worklessness is an ongoing challenge for policy at national, regional and local levels. The paper outlines the changing nature of worklessness, the rationale for supply-side and demand-side interventions to address it and the balance between people- and place-based policies. It discusses the issues involved in assessing the contribution of interventions to reduce worklessness and highlights key lessons emerging from a review of the evidence on ‘what works’. While no single model of successful intervention is identified, the importance of outreach, holistic approaches, individualisation and the position of personal advisers, continuing support, flexibility, motivation and aspirations, partnership working and the role of employers is highlighted.

Developing a financial services planning profession in the UK

PurposeAgainst the backdrop of the Financial Services Authority's Retail Distribution Review, this study aims to present an assessment of the potential development of a UK personal financial advising profession. The development of a profession dedicated to providing financial advice is critically discussed by assessing a range of regulatory and industry views.Design/methodology/approachThe study indicates both a critical literature review and survey of retail financial services planning advisors. The critical literature review considers the market failures which surround the provision of financial planning advice in the UK. A survey of professionally qualified personal financial planning advisers ascertains perceptions of developments to the current regulatory framework to accommodate a more professionally based system of financial advice.FindingsIt is reported that a conflict between the current regulatory system and the traditional liberal model of the professions exist. This conflict inhibits the development of a financial services advising profession. Survey evidence collected from professionally qualified financial planning advisors bears out this perspective.Research limitations/implicationsTwo key research implications emerge from this study. First, the development of a professional model of financial planning advising appears to be inhibited by the current regulatory system. Secondly, current regulation of financial services sales through a market mechanism appears to limit access to financial planning advice.Practical implicationsThe study raises two key practical implications. First, the current system of regulating financial sales, appears to exclude a substantial segment of the population from access to professional financial planning services. Secondly, the development of a profession and increasing professional behaviour in retail financial services sales conflicts with the current model of regulation.Originality/valueThis research paper both reviews the wider arguments surrounding the regulation of retail financial services sales and forwards new evidence as to the attitudes of professionally qualified financial advisors towards regulatory change. This has importance in clarifying a number of the key policy concerns in the regulation of financial services sales.