Evaluation of the Child Poverty Pathfinders – Phase 2

Tender description

Phase 2 of the Child Poverty Pathfinder Evaluation has four key objectives: 1) Impact: To understand the impact the Child Poverty Pathfinders have on families, child poverty and the system that supports them 2) Economic impact: To understand the impact of the Child Poverty Pathfinders on the economy and public expenditure and understand how the costs of the initiatives compare to their benefits and who the costs and benefits accrue to. 3) Process: To understand the effectiveness of the way Pathfinders have been implemented 4) Learning: To understand how lessons from the Pathfinders can be captured to support scaling up and rolling out elsewhere The Child Poverty Pathfinders are initiatives of Best Start: Bright Futures (https://www.gov.scot/publications/best-start-bright-futures-tackling-child-poverty-delivery-plan-2022-26/pages/3/), the second Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan. A number of phased Pathfinder initiatives are being developed over the lifetime of the Plan, with the overall aim of providing holistic and person-centred support that meets the specific needs of families most at risk of being in poverty. Glasgow City Council, the Scottish Government, COSLA and the Improvement Service are working together in Glasgow to provide access to support for citizens, break down siloed working and share funding, data and accountability to achieve this. Using a ‘No Wrong Door’ approach, families in contact with various services in the city will be proactively connected with the benefits and support they are entitled to, as well as employability and other support to thrive, live well and maximise independence. The Child Poverty Dundee Pathfinder is a collaborative initiative between the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP); Dundee City Council; the Scottish Government and other partners. It focuses on a cohort of parents in Dundee who are looking for employment and aims to support them out of poverty on a sustained basis, working across boundaries to provide holistic approaches centred around a family’s specific needs. The contractor will be required to build on the first phase of the evaluation (which involved development of a theory of change, monitoring framework and early implementation process study to inform an evaluability assessment) and work with Pathfinders and the Scottish Government to carry out a process evaluation, impact evaluation and economic evaluation of the Child Poverty Pathfinders.