The People and Work Unit is a charity based in South Wales. Established in 1984, we work through a mixture of research, evaluation and action research to identify and address economic and social issues.

We are currently working on a range of research projects including evaluations of RAISE and the Pre-Vent KS3 project; a review of the Wales Youth Forum for Sustainable Development and research to assess the role and relationships between the Youth Service and key strategic bodies for the Principal Youth Officer’s Group. Alongside our commissioned work, our action research projects have been exploring the links between place, poverty and low levels of educational attainment and participation in post-16 education and training. 

Our current projects, the School Focused Communities and the Tackling Child Poverty project, are working with five Communities First Partnerships, five secondary schools and their feeder primary schools in Rhondda Cynon Taf and aim to better understand and tackle how family support influences low educational engagement and attainment.

We use the learning generated by our commissioned research and our action research in order to inform policy and practice. Our aim is to ensure that everyone has both the opportunity and the support they need to gain a better quality of life through education and lifelong learning.