Hot off the back of the success of the IEP Journal #12, we are pleased to announce that Lynsey Sweeney FIEP is our Guest Editor for Issue 13, set to be launched at the end of January 2025.
Lynsey is Managing Director of Communities that Work (CtW), the national body in England that links housing, employment and government.
Communities that Work advocated for the establishment of JobsPlus pilots in England for many years and realised this ambition with the Learning and Work Institute and the DWP in summer 2024.
Before CtW, Lynsey was an adviser on employment, skills and apprenticeships at the National Housing Federation, drawing on her experience in the London FE sector and via KPMG’s World Class Skills programme. Before housing, employment and skills in the UK, Lynsey worked on health, education and skills programmes for VSO in China, Ethiopia and London.
Lynsey said Journal Issue 13 is all about social housing and employment – how the two services can be two sides of the same coin, working to achieve similar goals across shared communities.
“We share learning from the USA, which has developed over the last 30 years, and pilot initiatives here in the UK from JobsPlus sites, which only opened this summer,” she said.
“We’re proud to profile new research from Unity Housing with the Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence (CacHE), a widely respected UK research body led by multiple high-calibre universities specialising in social policy and social justice, and we have an ace book review too!
“With the Get Britain Working Paper now out and driving policy and funding from the DWP, Skills England emerging and growing commitment from the UK government on net zero and decarbonisation, now is the time to link housing and employment together better. I wanted to guest-edit the journal to show what this could look like and to bring together some key voices, experiences, and perspectives to the foreground in 2025.”
“The employability sector knows now more than ever that working in partnership is essential, not a nice-to-have layer on core services but central to delivering core services, such as Connect to Work, UKSPF People and Skills, or even JobsPlus.
“We hope this edition will shine a light on partnerships across delivery and inspire more and deeper partnerships in the future. As a Fellow of the IEP, I am fortunate to meet and learn from employability sector colleagues, and I hope we can bring them closer to colleagues in the social housing sector through this Journal, its launch event and wider events in the new year.”
The IEP Journal #13 will be revealed at our LiveLearnLAUNCH event on 23rd January, with this edition’s authors presenting alongside Lynsey. We will also be joined by David Imber FIEP, Head of the Centre for Employability Excellence.
Register here now: https://members.myiep.uk/events/67444bb89d34aa0009781d4e/description?ticket=67444bb89d34aa0009781d4d
Check our Journal 12 and our previous issues here.
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