Insight Blog

Why renting in later life matters for everyone

Posted by: Nick Philo, Posted on: 1 September 2022 - Categories: How we work, Our projects

Renting in later life seems to touch on almost all aspects of life. Here we're sharing the findings of our first phase of analysis.

Back to School

Posted by: Ana Dutu, Posted on: 24 August 2022 - Categories: About the teams, How we work

“I can’t wait to be a student for a week!” Sophie and I said to each other as we signed up for the Institute for Analytics and Data Science (IADS) Summer School at the University of Essex in July. You …

Thinking outside the [Primary Support Reason] box

Posted by: Rachel Newby, Posted on: 18 August 2022 - Categories: How we work, Our projects

Data loves a binary but as any social worker would I’m sure tell you - people don’t fit neatly into boxes! For much of our analysis there is a need to segment individuals into various groups, whether its budget code, …

Keeping Cool Throughout the Project Lifecycle

Posted by: Nicki Mallett, Posted on: 11 August 2022 - Categories: How we work

As we approach another week of high temperatures how do you go about starting well to ensure you remain as cool and prepared as possible and what does it have to do with a data and analytics project lifecycle…. What …

Forecasting adult social care demand to prepare for the future

Posted by: Elizabeth Wiley, Posted on: 28 July 2022 - Categories: How we work, Our projects

It’s often the case when we are busy, that we don’t take the time to reflect on or celebrate our successes. I am therefore enthusiastic to be taking the opportunity to do just that in this blog, sharing our methods …

Capturing golden nuggets through immersive research

Posted by: Poppy Reece, Posted on: 21 July 2022 - Categories: How we work, Our projects

Did you know that the average household throws away £60 worth of food every month? Or that recycling one banana peel can generate enough energy to charge two mobile phones? Food waste is a big problem for the planet, for Essex, and for our residents. To help inform a county-wide campaign, we set out to explore behaviours around food waste using an online research community approach.

Understanding Universal Credit Recipients

Posted by: Amos Turin, Posted on: 14 July 2022 - Categories: Our projects

We recently began analysing Universal Credit claimant levels to support the Skills and Employability team to better understand why, despite record low unemployment, Universal Credit (UC) claimant numbers had barely decreased from their March 2021 peak[1]. [2]. Once we started …

It started with (the absence of) a SEND forecast….

Posted by: Caroline Murphy, Posted on: 7 July 2022 - Categories: How we work, Our projects

We’ve never had the ability to place plan in SEND, now we can build new schools based on growth and needs forecasts, Ralph Holloway, Head of SEND Strategy and Innovation, ECC What started as a conversation two years ago about …

Harnessing collective insight to tackle complexity

Posted by: Colin Seward, Posted on: 27 June 2022 - Categories: How we work

As the idiom purports the certainty of 'death and taxes', two others, it could be argued, follow on closely behind these days: digitalisation and complexity. It could also be said that our health, individually and collectively, impacts and is impacted …

It’s fun to go to the J-S-N-A!

Posted by: Jevonharper, Posted on: 16 June 2022 - Categories: Open Data

Essex County Council, in collaboration with health partners, has a duty to undertake an assessment of the current and future health and wellbeing needs of the county’s communities on a regular basis. This process is referred to as the Joint …

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Celebrating World Oral Health Day with a shiny new set (of data!)