Evaluating England's ‘New Deal for Communities’ Programme Using the Difference-in-Difference Method

The New Deal for Communities (NDC) programme was designed to bridge the gap in living standards between 39 of the most deprived neighbourhoods in England and the rest of the country. This article assesses whether the NDC programme has affected the likelihood that recipients of worklessness benefits, like the Job Seeker's Allowance (JSA) or Incapacity Benefit/Severe Disablement Allowance (IB/SDA), will leave worklessness. This article shows that after the NDC programme began, JSA and IB/SDA recipients living in NDC areas were more likely to exit worklessness than JSA and IBS/SDA recipients living in control areas characterized by having same levels of deprivation as the NDC areas but not included in the programme