Housing associations, which provide most of the country’s social housing, plough more than £70 million a year into efforts to support out-of-work tenants to rejoin the jobs market and then to progress within it, according to IPPR.

In comparison, the government’s flagship Work and Health Programme, rolled-out earlier this year, is projected to spend £130m next year.

While the employment rate stands at a record high, analysis by IPPR suggested there is continuing high levels of unemployment among adults living in housing association properties.

According to the research:

IPPR also found that central government and its agencies have failed to work adequately with housing associations in England to design and deliver back-to-work and skills programmes. Instead, government programmes have mainly been delivered by large, privately-owned service providers, and have struggled to support the hardest to help.

The report calls for housing associations to be recognised as key partners in supporting people back to work. It recommends that the government devolve further power to local authorities, so that they can work with housing associations and other partners to build more effective local employment and skills services.

Joe Dromey, senior research fellow at IPPR, said: “As our new figures show, housing associations play a crucial role in supporting their tenants to access work and in tackling poverty in their local communities. But nationally commissioned employment and skills services have failed to work with them, and have failed to support people who face the greatest barriers to work.

“Government needs to rethink this approach. Power and funding should be devolved to our towns, cities and rural areas, so that they can build back-to-work services that really meet the needs of local communities and local economies. Housing associations should be key partners in this, working to help their tenants to access decent jobs.”

The IPPR report, Building Communities that Work, also recommends: