West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA):Evaluation of the Job Rotation Pilot

The Danish Job Rotation (JR) model centres on temporarily removing from the workplace and providing training for low skilled workers, whilst simultaneously providing in-work experience and vocational training for unemployed people who act as de facto substitutes.

In September 2024, WMCA commissioned us to conduct an independent process and impact evaluation of the Job Rotation Pilot in the Coventry area, up to its conclusion at the end of March 2025.

The evaluation sought to understand whether the pilot was effective in supporting employers to upskill their workforce and/or to provide backfill candidates (Universal Credit claimants) with valuable work experience to improve their employment outcomes.

Following development of an evaluation logic model and framework, we undertook analysis of programme monitoring data, interviews with key partners, and participating employers, and a combination of in-person, online and phone surveying of employees taking part in upskilling, as well as backfill candidates.

The findings revealed that the model has strongly supported employers to enable upskilling of their workforce across a range of sectors and job roles; that it could bring substantial additionality to upskilling arrangements (along with wider, spillover benefits); and that work placements had made a valuable difference for backfill candidates. Key observed outcomes including improved confidence, stronger perceived employment prospects and ability to overcome challenges. Our final report is available here.