Work and social security

Lead: Professor Nick Bailey, University of Glasgow

World of work

Our research on the ‘World of Work’ strategic impact programme aims to create a reusable, linked collection of UK-wide data from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and HM Revenue and Customs, which will provide new insights regarding work and social security across the country.

Specifically, we aim to establish the collection along with meta data and data descriptor papers to encourage and facilitate re-use for research. We also intend to analyse the impact of household-level factors on individual employment patterns and trajectories (aligning with DWP published Areas of Research Interest).

The creation of this data collection will allow validation of published statistics and will support a future wide range of analyses of labour markets, welfare systems, and the impact of policies and interventions on, for example, patterns of employment including insecurity and progression.

Poverty and fair work in Scotland

Our research on the ‘Poverty and Fair Work’ strategic impact programme aims to assess specific areas of work, social security and health outcomes in Scotland, informing Scottish policy developments (such as the Fairer Scotland Fund, Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan, and Single Gateway Scottish Health and Work Service), as well as addressing areas identified as analytical priorities by the DWP.

The programme aims to: provide better understanding of the functioning of the Scottish labour market and its interactions with the combined Scottish and UK welfare benefit systems; to support the development of the Scottish Child Poverty Measurement Framework and policies to reduce child poverty; and to explore and understand the two-way relationship between employment and health. 

Specifically the programme will prioritise work to assess the impact of benefits sanctions on health in Scotland, and research analysing the impact of health on employment retention in Scotland.