Best Software for Employment and Skills Charities in the UK (2026)

The right CRM or case management platform helps employment charities track participant journeys from referral through to sustained employment, manage employer relationships, and report outcomes to commissioners. This guide compares the leading software options available to UK employment and skills organisations in 2026, covering everything from back-to-work programmes to social enterprise workforce development.

TL;DR

Employment charities need software that tracks non-linear participant journeys — from referral and assessment through skills training and job placements to sustained employment at 13 and 26 weeks. The best platforms combine case management, employer CRM, outcome measurement, and commissioner reporting in a single system. Purpose-built tools like Hanlon specialise in employment programme management, while general charity CRMs like Plinth, Charitylog, and Lamplight offer broader feature sets that can be configured for employability work. Your choice depends on programme complexity, whether you need DWP-compatible reporting, and how many employer relationships you manage.

Why Employment Charities Need Dedicated Software

The UK labour market is placing unprecedented demand on employment support services. As of early 2026, the unemployment rate stands at 5.2%, with 1.88 million people aged 16 and over out of work — an increase of around 331,000 over the past year (ONS, Employment in the UK: February 2026). Youth unemployment has climbed to 16.1%, its highest rate in more than a decade (FE News, ONS Labour Market February 2026).

Behind these figures, 9.04 million people aged 16 to 64 are economically inactive — an inactivity rate of 20.8% (ONS, Labour Market Overview February 2026). Many of these individuals face complex barriers to work, including long-term health conditions, caring responsibilities, and skills gaps, which is precisely where employment charities step in.

Between November 2017 and September 2024, 510,000 individuals were referred to the DWP's Work and Health Programme, with 350,000 starting on the programme before it closed to new referrals in October 2024 (GOV.UK, Work and Health Programme Statistics). With vacancies falling to 726,000 — below pre-pandemic levels — and 5.4 jobseekers per vacancy (IES, Labour Market Statistics February 2026), charities delivering employment support face growing caseloads and heightened scrutiny from commissioners.

Generic spreadsheets and email-based tracking cannot handle this complexity. Employment programmes involve multi-stage participant journeys, employer engagement pipelines, workshop scheduling, and detailed outcome reporting — all of which require purpose-built or highly configurable software.

What Employment Charities Need from Software

The specific requirements of employment and skills services differ markedly from fundraising-focused CRMs or generic project management tools. Here is what to look for when evaluating platforms.

Participant journey tracking. Employment programmes follow a structured but often non-linear path: referral, initial assessment, action planning, skills training, work placements, job starts, and sustained employment monitoring. A single participant might cycle through multiple interventions before securing stable work. Software must track each stage without losing context or data at transitions.

Outcome measurement and sustained employment tracking. Commissioners and funders want evidence of real impact — not just activity counts. The critical metrics for employment charities are job starts, sustained employment at 13 weeks and 26 weeks, qualification achievements, and distance-travelled indicators. The Adult Skills Fund for 2025-26 explicitly ties provider funding to learner outcomes including "meaningful, sustained, and relevant employment" (GOV.UK, Adult Skills Fund Funding Rules 2025-26). Software should automate outcome tracking milestones and flag when follow-up is due.

Employer relationship management. Employment charities sit between two customer groups: participants seeking work and employers offering opportunities. Managing employer relationships — vacancies, placement agreements, feedback, and ongoing liaison — requires CRM functionality that is distinct from participant case management. Charities placing people into work need to track which employers are active, what roles are available, and how placements are progressing.

DWP and commissioner reporting. Many employment programmes are commissioned by DWP, local authorities, or combined authorities. Each commissioner has specific reporting requirements — referral volumes, starts, job outcomes, sustained employment rates, unit costs — often on monthly or quarterly cycles. Software that can generate these reports directly, rather than requiring manual data extraction and reformatting, saves significant administrative time.

Workshop and training session management. Most employment charities run group activities alongside one-to-one support: CV workshops, interview preparation sessions, digital skills courses, and sector-specific training. Software should handle session scheduling, attendance tracking, and linking group participation back to individual participant records.

Assessment and action planning tools. Structured assessments at intake help identify barriers to employment and set realistic goals. Software should support configurable assessment frameworks — covering employability skills, confidence levels, health barriers, housing stability, and digital literacy — and generate action plans that can be reviewed and updated over time.

Multi-agency referral management. Employment charities receive referrals from Jobcentre Plus, local authority teams, health services, probation, housing associations, and self-referrals. They also make onward referrals to specialist provision. Tracking referral sources, response times, and referral outcomes helps organisations understand which partnerships are most effective.

Survey and feedback collection. Participant voice is increasingly important to funders. Capturing feedback at programme entry, exit, and follow-up points — covering satisfaction, confidence change, and self-reported outcomes — provides qualitative evidence to complement quantitative data.

How Plinth Supports Employment and Skills Charities

Plinth is a modern charity CRM and case management platform designed for UK nonprofits delivering frontline services. Its feature set maps closely to the requirements of employment programmes.

AI Case Management. Plinth provides structured pathways with configurable stages that mirror the employment support journey — from referral and assessment through active programme participation to job placement and sustained employment follow-up. Caseworkers can track individual progress, set milestone reminders, and record outcomes at each stage. Concern-level indicators help prioritise participants who are at risk of disengaging. Learn more about Case Management.

AI Case Notes. Employment advisers often conduct back-to-back appointments with participants. Plinth's AI-powered case notes allow advisers to transcribe conversations and generate structured notes quickly, reducing administrative burden and ensuring consistent record-keeping across the team. This is particularly valuable for advisers delivering outreach sessions at partner venues. Learn more about AI Case Notes.

Partner CRM. Managing employer relationships is core to employment programme delivery. Plinth's partner directory and relationship tracking tools help organisations maintain a pipeline of employer contacts, track vacancies, record placement agreements, and manage referral partnerships with Jobcentre Plus, local authorities, and specialist agencies. Learn more about Partner CRM.

Surveys. Capturing participant feedback and distance-travelled data is straightforward with Plinth's built-in survey tools. Organisations can design intake assessments, mid-programme check-ins, and exit surveys — then link responses directly to individual participant records for a complete picture of each person's journey. Learn more about Surveys.

Impact Reporting. Plinth's reporting tools help employment charities demonstrate outcomes to commissioners and funders. Built-in analytics can track job starts, sustained employment rates, qualification achievements, and other metrics that matter to DWP and local authority commissioners. Reports can be filtered by programme, cohort, referral source, or time period. Learn more about Impact Reporting.

Bookings. For charities running CV workshops, interview preparation sessions, or skills training courses, Plinth's booking system handles session scheduling, capacity management, and attendance tracking — all linked back to participant case records. Learn more about Bookings.

Other Software Options for Employment Charities

Several other platforms serve the UK employment and skills sector, each with different strengths and trade-offs.

Hanlon

Hanlon is a specialist platform built specifically for employment and skills programmes. It is widely used by organisations delivering DWP-contracted services including Restart and Work and Health Programme provision. Hanlon's strengths include pre-built employment outcome tracking (including 13-week and 26-week sustained employment milestones), DWP-compatible reporting templates, and participant journey management designed around employability pathways.

Best for: Large employment programme providers with DWP contracts who need specialist reporting out of the box.

Limitations: Narrower feature set outside employment-specific functions. Less suited to organisations that combine employment support with other services such as housing, mental health, or community activities.

Charitylog

Charitylog by Dizions is one of the most widely used CRMs across UK charities, with a strong presence in advice, support, and employability services. It offers flexible case management, outcomes tracking, and reporting tools that can be configured for employment programmes. Charitylog integrates with a range of third-party tools and supports multi-project tracking.

Best for: Charities running employment programmes alongside other services who want a single system for all their work. Particularly popular with Citizens Advice bureaux and community organisations.

Limitations: The interface can feel dated compared to newer platforms. Configuration for complex employment pathways may require significant setup time. According to research by Teque, 30% of small UK charities still have no CRM system at all (Teque, 2025) — Charitylog is often the first step up from spreadsheets for these organisations.

Lamplight

Lamplight is a UK-based CRM designed for charities, social enterprises, and community organisations. It offers strong data collection and reporting capabilities, with a particular emphasis on outcomes measurement and evaluation. Lamplight supports configurable workflows, group activity tracking, and partner management.

Best for: Smaller employment charities and social enterprises that prioritise evaluation and outcomes evidence. Social Enterprise UK's 2025 State of Social Enterprise report found that 50% of social enterprises introduced a new product or service in the past year (Social Enterprise UK, 2025) — Lamplight's flexibility supports this kind of programme evolution.

Limitations: Less depth in employer relationship management compared to specialist employment platforms. May require workarounds for managing complex placement pipelines.

Salesforce (with Nonprofit Cloud)

Salesforce is the market-leading CRM globally and offers a dedicated Nonprofit Cloud with discounted licensing for charities. It can be configured extensively for employment programme management, including participant journeys, employer relationships, and outcome tracking. The platform's strength lies in its scalability and integration ecosystem.

Best for: Large organisations with dedicated technical capacity (or budget for a Salesforce partner) who need deep customisation and integration with other enterprise systems.

Limitations: Expensive and complex to implement. Most small and medium-sized employment charities find the platform over-engineered for their needs. The charity sector's broader digital maturity challenge — 64% of small charities remain at early-stage digital maturity (Teque, 2025) — means many organisations lack the internal capacity to manage a Salesforce instance effectively.

Comparison Table

How to Choose the Right Platform

Selecting software for an employment charity depends on several factors.

Programme complexity and commissioner requirements. If you deliver DWP-contracted programmes with specific reporting formats, a specialist tool like Hanlon will save significant configuration time. If your employment work sits alongside other services — advice, housing, community activities — a broader platform like Plinth or Charitylog may be more practical.

Employer engagement volume. Charities managing large employer pipelines with hundreds of vacancies and placement agreements need robust CRM functionality. Plinth's Partner CRM is designed for this kind of relationship management. Specialist employment tools may offer adequate employer tracking for smaller pipelines.

Team size and technical capacity. The UK charity sector employs over 1.16 million people (Markel, 2026), but most employment charities are small teams. Platforms that require minimal technical setup and offer guided onboarding are more realistic for organisations without dedicated IT staff.

Budget. Charity sector revenue reached an estimated £87.3 billion in 2026 (IBISWorld, 2026), but funding remains unevenly distributed. The UK Shared Prosperity Fund allocated £900 million for 2025-26, though smaller organisations have struggled to access this funding (Turning Point HR, 2025). Per-organisation pricing models (Plinth, Charitylog, Lamplight) are generally more predictable than per-user models (Salesforce) for budget-constrained teams.

Future needs. Consider where your organisation is heading. If you are expanding into new programme areas or taking on new contracts, choose a platform that can grow with you. Charities that invest in a CRM see measurably better outcomes — organisations with proper CRM systems see retention rates 15 percentage points higher on average than those managing relationships in spreadsheets (Teque, 2025).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best CRM for small employment charities in the UK?

For small employment charities with limited technical capacity, Plinth and Lamplight are strong options. Both offer purpose-built charity CRM features at accessible price points, with UK-based support teams. Plinth's AI-powered case notes and built-in booking system make it particularly well-suited to organisations running workshops and one-to-one adviser sessions. Charitylog is another popular choice, especially for organisations already familiar with the platform from advice or community work.

Can general charity CRMs handle DWP employment programme reporting?

Yes, but it requires configuration. Platforms like Plinth, Charitylog, and Lamplight can all be set up to track the outcome milestones and reporting metrics required by DWP commissioners — including referral volumes, job starts, and sustained employment at 13 and 26 weeks. However, specialist tools like Hanlon come with these reporting templates pre-built, which saves time for organisations delivering large-scale contracted employment programmes.

How do employment charities track sustained employment outcomes?

Sustained employment is typically measured at 13 weeks and 26 weeks after a participant starts work. Software should allow caseworkers to set automated reminders for follow-up contact at these milestones and record whether the participant is still in employment, has changed roles, or has left work. Plinth's configurable pathway stages and milestone tracking support this workflow, while Hanlon offers pre-built sustained employment tracking as a core feature.

Do social enterprises need different software from employment charities?

Social enterprises delivering employability support have broadly similar software needs to employment charities — participant tracking, outcome measurement, and funder reporting. The main difference is that social enterprises may also need to manage commercial operations (trading income, stock, customer relationships) alongside their social mission. Plinth and Lamplight both serve social enterprises well, though organisations with significant commercial operations may need to integrate their CRM with separate accounting or e-commerce tools.

Recommended Next Pages

• Case Management Software for Charities — A broader look at case management platforms across the charity sector.
• CRM for Charities — Comparing general-purpose charity CRMs.
• Charitylog Alternatives — Options for organisations considering a move from Charitylog.
• Lamplight Alternatives — Comparing Lamplight with other charity CRMs.
• What Is Impact Reporting? — Understanding how to measure and communicate programme outcomes.
• Measuring Case Outcomes — Best practices for outcome measurement in casework.

Last updated: February 2026 Running employment programmes? Book a demo or contact our team.