Following the announcement of the COVID-19 lockdown on 23rd March, the University of Essex and Jump, working with the Essex Local Delivery Pilot (LDP) and ECC’s Research and Insight team, launched the State of Life survey. The State of Life survey is web-based and distributed via social media channels. It is designed to gather key insights on wellbeing across Essex. This report...
The Essex Resident Survey is our biggest survey exercise and aims to generate insights: • on residents’ aspirations, views and values – helping to shape strategy, inform key ECC delivery programmes and our engagement with residents; • to inform specific decisions on service transformation and resource prioritisation; and • that help better understand the views of residents on key issues, informing the work...
With the gradual ease out of lockdown and the furlough scheme ending in September 2021, ECC needs to proactively plan for the increased and changing demand on employment services. These circumstances will potentially create a new cohort of individuals who have not needed to previously engage with these services. A broader programme of work is underway to understand financial resilience...
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic the Essex County Council (ECC) Public Health and Strengthening Communities teams, in partnership with local Facebook Admins, set up the Essex Coronavirus Action Support (ECAS) approach. This initiative is a part of Essex County Council’s wider digital first approach to strengthening communities which has also been applied in other projects addressing mental health needs...
Volunteering habits have changed quickly due to the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, one of the largest single-issue volunteer recruitment drives was instigated nationally and locally to assist vulnerable people through the pandemic. The Volunteering Tactical Coordination Group (VTCG) requested an exploratory piece of work which would: •review the position of statutory services regarding the current use of volunteers; •inform thinking about the use of...
Essex County Council made a commitment to supporting working families who are ‘just about managing’ (JAM) financially - those not experiencing severe deprivation, but still earning below the level required for a decent standard of living. The council generally has little contact with working families unless they tip into crisis and need our services and support, and we had limited insight...
This piece of research explored families’ experiences of the current short break offer, and how equal current services are across Essex and by listening to families we were able to gain a deeper understanding of what was working well and what could be better. The insights gathered will help inform what our future service offer could look like and identify new ideas innovation to support families,...
In November 2020, the Research & Citizen Insight team in collaboration with the Corporate Strategy team and colleagues in Children and Families, we conducted a survey entitled ‘Childcare in Essex – parents’ views’. This was aimed at parents of children aged 0 – 19 (25 if SEND) living in Essex using any form of childcare (formal or informal), including those not...
Each year, Essex County Council sets a research topic to some of the best social science undergraduates at the University of Essex. The Challenge Project acts as an alternative to their individual undergraduate dissertation module in their final year. As a group, the students work together to provide the council with evidence which is academically accredited and cutting edge. The report...
Report on the evaluation of the Trailblazers Homelessness Prevention Pilot