Client
Local London
A partnership of nine London boroughs driving inclusive growth, skills and good jobs.
About the work
Local London is a partnership between the London boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Bexley, Bromley, Enfield, Greenwich, Havering, Newham, Redbridge and Waltham Forest. The boroughs work together on inclusive growth, skills and employment, and helping residents into good, sustainable work. Together they draw down and manage regional and national funding at a scale no single borough could.
One of Local London’s flagship programmes is its Economic Inactivity Trailblazer. It’s part of the government’s Get Britain Working initiative, funded by the Department for Work and Pensions through the Greater London Authority. The £14m programme tests new ways to support residents who are out of work and not looking for it, often because of ill health, caring responsibilities or other barriers. It does this through three strands of support. The first is targeted support for residents. The second is help to start a business or become self-employed. The third is a childcare support fund.
In 2025 Local London appointed Always Possible as independent evaluation partner for the Trailblazer, through a contract managed on its behalf by the London Borough of Redbridge. Our Project Director, Sam Hawkins, leads the work with a team of research associates.
In the first year, from September 2025 to March 2026, we evaluated delivery across all nine boroughs. That meant surveying participants and delivery staff, analysing borough monitoring data, and looking at value for money. We set out what was working, for whom and why, and Local London used our progress reporting in its own reports to the Greater London Authority.
Local London then extended our contract into a second year. Alongside the core evaluation, we’re now following a panel of 16 residents across the boroughs and strands over the course of a year. This longitudinal study looks at how several barriers at once shape people’s progress towards work, including the stop-start nature of that journey. The aim is evidence that boroughs, London government and national policymakers can use when designing the employment programmes that come next.
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