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At least 1.5 million (1 in 10) people assigned female at birth (menstruating people) have endometriosis in the UK. It’s a condition where tissues similar to those usually found in the uterus lining are found elsewhere in the body, such as in or on the ovaries, fallopian tubes, bowel or bladder. These tissues break down and bleed each month causing scar tissue and lesions which can lead to pain and inflammation.

There is currently no cure for endometriosis and limited understanding of its causes. On average, diagnosis takes 8 years in the UK and it can only be properly diagnosed via laparoscopic surgery. Each person’s experience is unique, but endometriosis is often characterised by:

• Chronic pain including severe period pain or flares that can prevent people from engaging in everyday activities including education, work, and socialising.
• Digestive issues and pelvic or abdominal inflammation.
• Chronic fatigue, low energy, and brain fog.
• Difficulty conceiving or infertility.
• Elevated stress levels, higher risk of anxiety, depression, and a sense of isolation.

Sadly, diagnosis times haven’t improved in recent years. The Royal College of Obstetrics & Gynaecologists report, Left for too long, found that wait times had increased by 60% from pre-pandemic levels (the largest increase across all NHS specialisms). Crucially, 77% of those surveyed said the long wait negatively impacted their ability to work.

It took over 11 years for my diagnosis in 2019, with several misdiagnoses along the way. I’ve since had two operations; the first to excise the endometriosis and the second a hysterectomy to remove my uterus and ovaries, given my symptoms didn’t improve. Endometriosis is a progressive condition and unfortunately, mine had become widespread given how long it was left untreated, leaving my symptoms severe and making my operations complex and lengthy.

I feel very fortunate that at Kada I’ve been able to speak openly about my experiences. Given there’s a strong sense of empathy and trust within the team, we’ve been able to work together to agree on a working pattern that allows me to continue to manage my ongoing symptoms.

Drawing on my experiences of navigating work with endometriosis, here are my three top tips for fellow endometriosis warriors and their employers. This isn’t an exhaustive list and I have a desk-based job, so for those in physically demanding jobs or where working from home isn’t a possibility, different approaches may be much more relevant.

1. Reviewing work patterns: for example, starting later each day may help to manage fatigue and building in regular breaks for movement might help with pain management. Compressed hours, such as a 9-day fortnight, can ring-fence time for rest and fitting in medical appointments, though flexibility is needed here given we often have little say over when these can be scheduled. Hybrid working arrangements are a great consideration and could include working at home during the first days of menstruation. Part-time working may be a possibility but there are obvious financial implications here. If working hours are reduced, proactive workload management is vital, including managing the impacts on the wider team.

2. Leading by example for empathy and trust: open communication is crucial for discussions about adjustments. Speaking about an invisible condition might leave people feeling vulnerable so managing from a position of empathy can provide a more trusting environment. This should facilitate more honest and open discussions about what might work best for the individual and employer.

3. Shaping workplace culture: workplace cultures can either ease the way or impede the success of 1 and 2. This doesn’t mean that everyone needs to know the reasons for the adjustments, but it does mean promoting a culture that values difference and recognises the benefits of inclusive teams for productivity and creativity. Following different arrangements may lead to feelings of isolation so having allies in place that may not necessarily be a line manager might help too.

Overall, the key message is about keeping it individual based on each person’s experience of their condition. Symptoms can also change so it’s important to keep things under review.

Starting the conversation can be difficult and changes can take time to put in place but there are resources to help. Endometriosis UK has an endometriosis-friendly employer scheme with advice for individuals and employers. Involving occupational health can help to navigate options and HR processes. Although endometriosis is not classified as a disability, the Equality and Disability Act can help to initiate a discussion about adjustments where the individual’s experience aligns with the definition of a disability.

Since the pandemic, there has been a shift towards employers needing to consider different working models to support those with long Covid or other long-term conditions, and older workers (aged 50 and above) returning to the workforce. Inclusive approaches alongside skills and expertise in negotiation and HR policy will be priorities for all employers as the economy recovers. Hopefully, this will smooth the way for more open discussions in the workplace about other conditions like endometriosis.

As science and innovation are increasingly the focal point for economic growth, let’s ride this wave and call for more research into endometriosis. More innovative approaches could improve understanding of its causes, identify less invasive diagnostic methods and find more effective treatments that aren’t so reliant on pain relief medication. High-quality research into endometriosis is severely lacking but more effective diagnosis and treatments would ultimately improve the quality of life for those with endometriosis as well as contribute to economic inclusion and productivity which are all undeniably for the benefit of everyone.

[1] Occupational Health & Wellbeing Plus (2019). One in six endometriosis sufferers gives up work.

Written by Dr Laura Lane

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In fact, the UK called for the fund to be developed and finally launched after the oil crisis back in 1975 and for a fund double the size. Yes, the UK was an enthusiastic founder and participant in the early days; how things change. Now, we have decided to take back control of our own economic development with a new Levelling Up Agenda but with fewer funds to match via the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF). Our clients are already talking about filling some of the clear gaps, noticeably on climate change, the digital economy, and innovation, where the paucity of potent measures in UKCRF is clear to see.

Structural Funds (and I include the European Social Fund here) achieved a lot. They were publicised but people didn’t seem to know about them. Many of our towns, cities and businesses in the 80s, 90s and noughties were in some way touched by fairly substantial EU investments. During the EU Exit debates, Structural Fund practitioners looked on in dismay at the lack of cogent defence for what their work had achieved.

You could initiate transformational change with structural funds. It gave policymakers some control over local economic development and in the first few seven-year programming periods could be deployed on substantial capital investments. The ERDF family is broad too: it included financial and collaboration instruments with memorable names like JESSICA and INTERREG.

People joke about the administration attached to ERDF; it was a real pain to manage. The paperwork was immense and the need for wet signatures until recently seemed crazy, especially during a pandemic! It worked a bit in silos too and project managers didn’t always make effective referral links to each other – but that was often down to a lack of coordination by our own managing authorities. The ERDF regulations and state aid rules are legendary. In fact, my ex-chairman named his racehorse after them. On the whole, I think it was spent pretty well, honestly, and with a fair degree of additionality. Of course, some projects ruthlessly took the funds and went for the ‘low-hanging fruit’ just to meet the contractual targets. In many of our evaluations, we suggested thinking about the impacts upfront and then tailoring programmes where they were most needed or could make the most transformational difference.

On balance, in my view, its strengths outweigh its weaknesses. It also showed it could be flexible. It did manage to outlive wars, pandemics, recessions and other economic crises, and many UK prime ministers for that matter! When there was a flood or an economic crisis, ERDF was there.

ERDF invested in growth and was a real flag bearer for small and medium-sized enterprises. It invested in accelerators, world-class technology and innovation infrastructure, ground-breaking new products and processes, and new market development. More recently it has focused on resilience, digital transformation, and low-carbon measures. I think it has been truly transformational in investing in low-carbon innovation and with more funds could have achieved even more. Project managers did not always take the cross-cutting measures seriously around equality and sustainability but those that did had better projects because of it. Many missed out on funds like those in the foundation economy who were ignored in favour of ‘sexy priority sectors’. It could have affected more change in these traditional sectors and, had we stayed in the EU, I suspect project managers could have pushed for investment in modern methods of construction, industrial decarbonisation, etc.

I look across the water with a little sadness and envy, as the 2021-2027 programme period will enable investments in a smarter, greener, more connected and more social Europe that is closer to its citizens. The programme development phases were always an exciting and frenetic rush of political negotiations, strategy development and implementation planning.

It feels like the right sort of investment for our turbulent times. At Kada, we are going on a mission this year to see if there is a demand for our structural fund expertise so that we can remake some of the connections that are ebbing away and think about an overseas presence. In the UK, I think we could usefully build on our 48 years of ERDF experience by:

• Ensuring innovation, digitisation and low-carbon transitions remain centre stage for local economic development.
• Linking skills and economic development priorities more seamlessly than was achieved under ERDF and ESF.
• Ensuring seamless online project management, well-connected economic development programmes and a focus on those interventions that really make a difference.

One thing we do have in common with our EU counterparts – we both seem to be hopelessly late in launching our programmes! Adieu for now ERDF, it has been fun; and hello UKSPF, we are here to help ensure the decisions we make about our futures are smart ones.

By Karl Dalgleish

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1. What is an ERDF assessment?

All ERDF grant funded recipients have a requirement to produce a Summative Assessment Report. The idea of an ERDF Summative Assessment is to evaluate performance and delivery, showcase lessons and think about the future. A good assessment provides impartial insights into project performance. The rationale for it is to enhance project implementation, and provide reliable evidence of efficiency, effectiveness and value for money, as well as insights into what and why interventions work (or not), and key lessons learned. The analysis conducted as part of a Summative Assessment can be particularly valuable in making the case for future funding. 

How Kada does it: One of the main purposes of an ERDF Summative Assessment is to prove to your funders that your project has had tangible benefits.  It is worth using the assessment to identify for your own benefit what did and did not go well with your project, and what changes you could make in the future.  You can see examples of our ERDF assessment work in our case studies.

2. What needs to go into an ERDF assessment?

Put simply, the ERDF Summative Assessment guidance asks evaluators to review the relevance and consistency of a project and consider its progress, delivery and management. There are also some detailed ERDF requirements in terms of assessing impacts and value for money that require a degree of understanding of economic impact methods such as those highlighted with HMT’s Green Book. 

The ERDF Summative Assessment (SA) guidance (ESIF-GN-1-033 Version 4 Date published 1 July 2020) is designed to ensure consistency across the English programme, and places emphasis on implementation and understanding the difference a project has made. You may already be applying many of its principles. 

In summary, an ERDF Summative Assessment needs to: 

• provide an accurate assessment of contractual performance. As project impacts often take time to come to fruition, it is essential it captures ‘anticipated’ and wider effects. 

• set the scene well. Projects need to be set in the context of your local priorities and the local industrial and English and EU programme context.  
• ensure relevance and consistency in light of any changes in policy or economic circumstances during delivery – for instance considering the effects of Brexit and, more recently, Covid-19. 
• reflect on delivery and management, and the procurement arrangements and partners’ experience.  

Mostly importantly, the impacts of your programme must be evidenced with robust data.  

How Kada does it: We use a mix of qualitative and quantitative research techniques including desk research, performance analysis, case studies, stakeholder and beneficiary interviews, and impact assessment techniques. This helps us ‘triangulate’ the findings, increasing robustness and reliability.   

 3. How can I evidence my project’s impact?

The guidance highlights several principles to follow, including beneficiary engagement – taking into account the experiences and comments of anyone who has benefited from the project. To this end we suggest discussions or interviews with all willing beneficiaries to include a pragmatic and useful counterfactual perspective. 

It is important to take an independent and consistent approach in order to ensure that you can draw reliable conclusions from your data. There is some flexibility here, but all ERDF projects follow similar approaches: the use of logic models, speaking to stakeholders and beneficiaries, using widely recognised impact assessment techniques etc. This ensures that the reports are of sufficiently high quality and consistency. It is important to be clear in your report about the approach taken and any assumptions made when assessing impacts.  

How Kada does it: To ensure that our ERDF Summative Assessments meet the requirements of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), we have designed our own impact models specifically tailored to the ESIF 0-014 form. Our approach ensures that all calculations are evidenced and defendable using primary research with direct and indirect beneficiaries and credible benchmarks. We assess cost effectiveness and value for money using a combination of our own in-house intelligence, design bespoke impact models and ensure these are benchmarked against ERDF guidance (which we are familiar with) and our own previous work. 

4. What about Brexit – will reports still be useful for clients looking to develop the next iteration of their programme? 

Absolutely! Details of the Shared Prosperity Fund are expected in 2021. Those applicants with robust ERDF Summative Assessments will be well placed to submit evidence–based bids for this new funding. Summative Assessments provide an impartial review of delivery capabilities, giving future funders strong evidence that you have the right credentials for project implementation.  

Signs are that the Shared Prosperity Fund will mirror many of the priorities in the previous ERDF programme combined with current UK priorities. The big themes for future funders are likely to include impactful low carbon measures, post-Covid 19 resilience and post-Brexit opportunities. Enterprise and innovation programmes are likely to remain important.   

Karl: What have you learned from conducting many ERDF summative assessments? 

I have been working on ERDF since the 1990’s. For me, the best ERDF Summative Assessments exceed the Government’s minimum standards. We try to speak to all those involved in delivery as well as external partners. We also consult with as many beneficiaries as possible. This ensures that what we are saying is grounded in reality. I have learnt to bring in experts if needed and set up ERDF ‘systems and processes’ to make life easier for the team. We have banks of questions, case study templates from our designer and many impact models and internal value for money benchmarks. A lot of our time goes into presentation including infographics, charts and tables, and we make sure we have powerful quotations to illustrate the key findings.  We are not judgemental either. Where programmes are not performing, we look at the reasons why and thinking about the learning points and how challenges might be overcome. This year we have had exceptional mitigating circumstances and unprecedented economic shocks. It has not been an easy time to be an ERDF project manager and our team applies empathy and understanding in assessing performance.  

What does Kada offer?

Well, we are a nice team to work with and listen to what clients want and need. We provide high quality, independent, incisive, challenging, evidence–based reports and recommendations. Our team pays close attention to detail. We make our clients’ decision making easy, and routinely exceed their expectations. We also help clients with the paperwork. As part of the process the Government requires project beneficiaries to fill in an ERDF Summative Assessment Report Summary (ESIF-Form-1-014) in Excel. On appearance this looks simple enough but there is a lot of detail and these can take 2 days to fill in well. We do this for our clients at no charge. Our impact and output spreadsheets are set up to drop the findings into the forms. We have evaluated programmes covering innovation, low carbon, enterprise, international trade, start-up, enterprise growth, HE collaboration, sectoral support and many more, covering the full spectrum of ERDF eligible activity. We are able to draw on this extensive experience.  

What have clients most liked about ERDF Summative Assessments conducted by Kada?

We ask our clients this. They have commented on our professionalism, approachability and flexibility and the fact we offer full compliance with the ERDF Summative Assessment Guidance. They like our insights on programme performance from different perspectives and have used our recommendations for follow on projects. Clients tell us we are responsive, friendly and easy to work with, providing high quality reports. It gives me comfort that clients return to us after they have worked with us once.  

Summing up: What will a client get from an ERDF summative assessment?

An ERDF Summative Assessment allows our clients to:  

(a) confidently assert the true costs, savings, and economic and wider impacts and demonstrate the value of their ERDF project to funders and stakeholders, and  

(b) critically assess their ERDF projects and programmes, improve their effectiveness, and/or inform future programming decisions. 

What next? 

If you want to find out more about ERDF Summative Assessments and how we can help you, get in touch with Karl at karl.dalgleish@kadaresearch.co.uk for an initial free consultation about what it involves. 

The post The Kada Guide to ERDF Summative Assessments first appeared on KADA Research.

“I am really pleased Kada was able to make a donation of £1,000 towards the new oven at the Archer Project as part of our CSR activities which we take seriously. It is such a vital piece of equipment and after many months of fund–raising I am so pleased to see we have met our target and had the oven installed. It was a pleasure to serve the first breakfasts to Sheffield’s homeless people this morning with the Cathedral Archer Project team.” Karl Dalgleish, Director of Kada Research 

The new oven will provide over 400,000 meals for vulnerable and homeless people in Sheffield.

Sheffield based Kada has a long-standing relationship with the Cathedral Archer Project, which provides support and care for local homeless and vulnerable people. A hugely important part of this support is the provision of fresh, hot food, which is vital for people’s physical and mental health. COVID-19 has presented a particular challenge to everyone, but to vulnerable people in particular – during the first lockdown, the project was providing almost 200 meals every day.  

However, the old combination oven used to prepare those meals has been failing. Having had it fixed several times in the space of a few months, it became clear that a new one was going to be needed in order to keep providing vital meals during lockdown. Good commercial ovens are expensive and the team have struggled to raise the funds required. Kada was pleased to be able to donate £1,000 toward the £7,000 cost of a new oven. It is now finally installed and ready to go just in time for both a cold winter and the 30th anniversary of the Cathedral Project. Karl was glad to join the team to help serve the first few breakfasts from the newly installed oven. 

The oven won’t just be providing food to vulnerable people. The team at the Cathedral Archer Project have been working hard to develop social enterprises in order to provide people with work experience and connections to local business. Have successfully built up a cleaning and printing enterprise, they have now been trialling a small cake bakery to supply cakes to local businesses. The new oven will put them in a much better position to build that trial up into a full social enterprise to benefit homeless and vulnerable people. 

With an expected lifetime of 12 years, the oven should provide in excess of 200,000 hot cooked breakfasts and the same number of lunches to the most vulnerable people in Sheffield. Having good-quality equipment puts the Cathedral Archer Project in a strong place to be resilient in unforeseen circumstances, such as the global pandemic we are currently facing.   

“I love our new oven. It will be used 6 days a week and is so versatile, just what we need feeding the numbers we do. During the pandemic lockdown we were providing nearly 200 meals every day and an oven like this just makes catering so much easier.” Tim Renshaw, Chief Executive of the Cathedral Archer Project

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Kada Research headlines from newly published coronavirus business support statistics 

Background

The House of Commons Library this week released statistics on the uptake of government coronavirus business support, detailing the distribution of support funds by local area [1]. Our graduate intern Anne-Marie has taken a look at the statistics to give some initial impressions of to what extent Sheffield made the most use of coronavirus business support relative to the rest of the UK.

The available support consisted of employment schemes, such as the furlough and self-employed support schemes, several types of business loans, the COVID corporate financing facility, business rates relief and VAT deferrals. This short blog post focuses on employment schemes and business loans.

Employment Schemes  

1 in 3 of the population at some point furloughed

By midnight 16th August 2020, 1.2 million employers had furloughed 9.6 million jobs over the course of the pandemic. On average, 32% of workers across the UK have at some point in the pandemic been furloughed, with the highest rate in the West Midlands at 34%. Within industries, the food and accommodation sector had the highest furlough rate at 77%, whilst the wholesale and retail industry furloughed the highest number of jobs at 1.9 million. The number of furloughs at a given time peaked on the 8th of May 2020 at 8.9 million.

The levels of self-employment income support were also high. In the first round up to 19 July, 2.7 million claims were made totalling £7.8 billion. In the second round from the 17 August, 296,850 claims up to the 17 August totalled £768.9 million. According to the government report, by the 31 July, 77% of the eligible population claimed self-employment income support, with the highest number of these coming from the construction industry [2].

In Sheffield, a total of 74,300 jobs were furloughed and 19,700 self-employment support claims were made representing some 37% of the workforce

Data for Sheffield includes Sheffield Central, South East, Brightside and Hillsborough, Heeley and Penistone and Stocksbridge. Furlough uptake rates in Sheffield varied between 23% in Sheffield Hallam and 32% in Sheffield South East. This puts most areas of Sheffield below the UK average of 32% furlough rate. The self-employment claims in Sheffield totalled £53.2 million, with uptake rates ranging between 75% and 83%. This is at or slightly above the UK average of 77%, possibly because construction, the industry with the highest number of self-employment support claims across the UK, is the third-largest industry in Sheffield. In total, during the pandemic 37% of Sheffield’s workforce have either been furloughed or have received self-employment support.

Business Support  

The Government offered four primary financial loan schemes for businesses impacted by COVID-19. The Bounce Back Loan Scheme, backed 100% by the Government, offers all businesses loans of up to £50,000 or 25% of turnover. The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), backed 80% by the Government, offers loans of up to £5 million for businesses with a turnover under £45 million. The Coronavirus Larger Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS) offers loans to larger businesses. The Future Fund provides loans to businesses that rely on equity investment and are pre-profit, and therefore cannot access the other business support schemes.

In total, over 1 million businesses have accessed loans worth over £53 billion (approval rates were high)

Of the applications to the CBILS scheme, 49% were approved, with 60,409 loans totalling £13.68 billion. For the CLBILS scheme, 55% of loans were approved, with 516 loans totalling £3.5 billion. The Bounce Back scheme had an approval rate of 82%, with 1,174,854 loans totalling £35,47 billion. Finally, the Future Fund approved 65% of claims, funding 590 claims totalling £590,000. The regional spread of the loans was relatively proportionate to the population. [3]

In Sheffield, 7,327 businesses accessed loan support worth £311.2 million

For Sheffield, only data on the CBILS and Bounce Back schemes are available. On the CBILS scheme, 378 businesses claimed £87.9 million in loan support. The Bounce Back loan scheme saw 6,949 loans totalling £223.3 million – these loans covered some 46% of the total business base. [4] The majority of business loans were given in Sheffield Central, Sheffield South East and Penistone and Stocksbridge.

Want to understand take up in your local economy better? Need help in developing some clear actions to support business recovery? Speak to Karl Dalgleish (karl.dalgleish@kadaresearch.co.uk).

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