Brought together by Communities that Work, the Housing and Employment Taskforce is drawn from the social housing, training and employment sectors and includes representatives from DWP and DLUHC. It aims to help housing providers open up routes into training to improve skills and support career change, so that residents can access long-term, rewarding work.

The study will be led by the Institute for Employment Studies and the Learning & Work Institute and will be published later this year. It will showcase successes such as NFA member Nottingham City Homes’ work with the Women in Construction campaign and Berneslai Homes’ award-winning apprenticeship programme. 

Technical Project Manager Rachel Hart is one of the NCH scheme’s star ‘graduates’. When she signed up for a trades taster training course with her landlord, she was a lone parent with few qualifications and no idea that she was destined for an engineering career.

“I was working jobs that weren’t going anywhere. I thought I’d try the taster course, which was run by women for women, and thought I was going to hate electronics and end up painting and decorating. It was soon obvious that I couldn’t hang wallpaper for toffee but I loved electronics,” she says.

She won a place on an electrical apprenticeship with her landlord, passing City and Guilds trade exams, and then took a degree in construction management. She ended up leading Nottingham’s Women in Construction programme before being promoted to manager with the energy team, creating affordable and sustainable retrofit zero-carbon solutions for tenants.

“It was made possible for me to fit all of this around my family life,” she says. “When a landlord like NCH provides this kind of opportunity, they’re looking at the whole picture – and they want us to succeed.

“This is great for young people, but also for older people like me who have a wealth of life experience. If we’re keen to retrain, we should be encouraged to believe that it’s never too late to take a different direction.”

NFA Policy Director Chloe Fletcher said the research would lay vital groundwork for an evidence-based approach to new government employability initiatives, especially at a time when so many households are financially hard-pressed.

“Given the current cost of living crisis, we are very pleased to be helping fund research that is very much needed right now,” she said. “The research will look closely at core employment issues and support the good work the Taskforce has already done in developing its award-winning national ‘Opportunity Guarantee’ campaign and feeding into the Chancellor’s Plan for Jobs.

“We know our members have a wealth of good practice to share on the hugely positive impact housing providers can have on residents’ employability.”