Life Chances Fund evaluation: final report on the Mental Health and Employment Partnership
The final evaluation of the Mental Health and Employment Partnership, funded through the Life Chances Fund.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
This is the third and final report of a five-year evaluation of the Mental Health and Employment Partnership (MHEP).
MHEP was part-funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) under the Life Chances Fund (LCF). The LCF ran from 2016 to 2025 as a locally-led Social Outcomes Partnerships (SOP) fund to tackle entrenched social issues across England. The LCF contributed to SOP projects through payments by results contracts. These contracts involved social investors and were locally commissioned. DCMS is working in partnership with the Government Outcomes Lab (GO Lab) to evaluate the LCF and the use of SOPs in local commissioning.
MHEP supports people experiencing poor mental health, or with learning disabilities, to enter and remain in employment. It operates five LCF-funded projects across Haringey and Barnet, Shropshire, Enfield and Tower Hamlets. This report asks two primary questions: whether the MHEP SOP made a difference to the social outcomes achieved, compared with alternative commissioning approaches, and through which mechanisms it contributed to improved services and positive social outcomes.