Beyond a Helpline Final Evaluation Report

A Pilot Project to Provide Effective HR Support for Smaller Agencies

In 2004, the London Housing Foundation set up an Action Learning Set for heads of small homelessness agencies in London. One of the issues that these agencies shared was their need for consistent, high-quality and affordable HR support.

The Foundation’s response was to establish a two-year pilot scheme - Beyond a Helpline, which ran from April 2006 to March 2008. The programme was evaluated by Triangle Consulting and their Final Evaluation Report is published by the Foundation, together with in-depth Case Studies available as a separate document.

In the report the authors take a detailed look at Beyond a Helpline, analysing both the obstacles and the successes. They conclude that it was an innovative and successful approach to improving people-management. It succeeded in transforming both the way some agencies were organised and the way they managed their staff. In the words of one participant:

‘The change has been vast… Things are not chaotically done any more - there are clear processes, structures which pervade everything. Now people are proud of the professionalism, it filters into everything.’

Download the reports

• Final Evaluation Report in full (60 pages)
• Executive Summary (4 pages)
• Case Studies (12 pages)
  

More

• Read Broadway's position paper, Human Resources Management and Employee Engagement: A Needs Statement, which sets out the theory and research behind the need to invest adequately in HR.