LEAF: The Liverpool Economic Activity Framework

The LCR has an economic inactivity rate of 24%, higher than the England average of 21.4%, and is among the areas in England with the poorest health outcomes, which correlates with higher economic inactivity. Within the LCR, nearly one in five workers (18.8%) are in severely insecure work, slightly below the national average. Efforts by policymakers to reduce economic inactivity have had mixed results in the past. In the LCR, these efforts have included programmes to boost employment opportunities (Ways to Work, Households into Work) and improve health (Citizens Advice on Prescriptions, Life Rooms). LEAF represents a comprehensive, community-focused approach to addressing economic inactivity in the Liverpool City Region. By leveraging interdisciplinary collaboration and existing partnerships, the project aims to deliver new insight, develop tools for future research and policy development, and create a sustained societal impact. Our four interconnected work packages address root causes of economic inactivity, including disability or poor health and informal caring responsibilities. · Work Package 1 pilots a bottom-up approach to address economic inactivity, collaborating with local organisations. Local co-researchers with lived experience of worklessness will be trained in research skills to enable them to conduct root cause analyses to identify local causes of economic inactivity and to develop, implement, and pilot Community Innovation Plans as part of three Community Innovation Teams (CITs). The Innovation Plans can serve as inspiration to policymakers when devising new policy. · Work Package 2 explores how place-based and systemic factors interact to shape health, disability, and informal care-driven economic inactivity in the UK by conducting systematic reviews and benchmarking data using surveys and community insights. We will generate new insights into the causes and consequences of economic inactivity using statistical decomposition methods to understand the drivers of economic inactivity in local communities across the UK. These results will form the basis for an inactivity mapping tool to visualise key metrics and the support available for those at risk of economic inactivity across geographies and time in the UK. We cap this work package off with a realist review to explain how interventions work in specific contexts, using primary data collected from interviews to test and refine program theories. The results serve to provide stakeholders with both the knowledge and tools to develop innovative approaches to tackling inactivity in the future. · Work Package 3 works to translate the findings into evidence-based policy. In collaboration with ADR UK, ONS and LCR policymakers (the combined authority, the councils, and the Civic Data Cooperative), we will assess current data systems and develop a plan to improve access and linkage, especially with local and community-held data. This ensures increased capacity among UK researchers to conduct more inclusive research with emphasis on place-based analyses in the future. We will co-design a toolkit with LCR Combined Authority and Liverpool City Council to support bridging the research-to-policy gap by breaking down silos and involving the community, which can become a framework for communities across the country to begin to develop place-based policies. · Work Package 4 (WP4) will synthesise findings into a theory of change and establish a future research agenda co-developed with CITs and stakeholders through workshops, drawing on lived experience and research outputs. This plan will guide future community-driven research and policymaking, ensuring sustained impact in tackling economic inactivity in LCR and beyond.