Learning If Policy Will Work: The Case of New Deal for Disabled People

The New Labour government is committed to the piloting and evaluation of its welfare to work policies prior to full national implementation. An example is the Personal Adviser component of its New Deal for Disabled People, which aims to increase levels of paid employment and employability among disabled people of working age. Taking the Personal Adviser pilots as a case study, the article discusses issues that arise when designing policy evaluations to inform national policy decisions and implementation, including randomisation, discrepant timescales, and 'cherry picking'. Whether the new relationship between British politicians and policy evaluators can continue to blossom is debatable.