Social Security Experience Panels - About Your Benefits and You: quantitative research findings

Priorities for improvement in the new social security system

Respondents were asked about their top three priorities for the Scottish Government to improve in the new social security system. The majority of respondents (71 per cent) listed 'advice and support about claiming' as a priority. More than half listed 'applying for a benefit'.

Table 12 shows the breakdown of how respondents prioritised different areas for improvement.

Table 12: Priorities for improvement (n = 1,111)*

	% respondents
Advice and support about claiming	71%
Applying for a benefit	52%
Having a claim reconsidered or going to appeal	45%
Being kept up to date about your claim	44%
General enquires about benefits	24%
Being told the result of your application	18%
Making changes to your information after the result	13%
Making a complaint	10%
Something else	2%

* figures relate to the proportion of complete respondses which listed the area within their top three priorities for improvement. Figures therefore do not add up to 100%.

Priorities by age and gender

There was not a substantial difference in how men and women prioritised areas to be improved within the new social security system. There was also not any noteworthy variation by age. Table 13 illustrates some minor variation in the weight each age bracket placed on each priority area - the overall order of priorities is, however, consistent across the age brackets.

Table 13: Priorities for improvement by age (n=1,144)*

Priority	25-44	45-59	60 or over
Advice and support about claiming	66%	72%	75%
Applying for a benefit	61%	52%	44%
Having a claim reconsidered or going to appeal	48%	46%	45%
Being kept up to date about your claim	44%	45%	41%
General enquires about benefits	18%	24%	28%
Being told the result of your application	16%	19%	18%
Making changes to your information after the result	12%	11%	16%
Making a complaint	10%	9%	11%
Something else	0%	2%	3%

* The number of responses from those aged 24 or under are too low to report

Priorities by location

There is not a major difference in the priorities identified by respondents between people living in urban and rural locations. The number of responses is not high enough to report by Local Authority area.

Table 14 shows how priorities vary depending on the affluence of their population area (1= most deprived area, 5 = least deprived area). It indicates that whilst there may be some variation by SIMD2016 ranking, the ranking of priorities overall remain similar. Those in the most affluent areas ( SIMD2016 quintile 5) were less likely to identify 'having a claim reconsidered or going to appeal' as a priority (34 per cent) than those is the most deprived areas (48 per cent in SIMD2016 quintile 1 and 51 per cent in SIMD2016 quintile 2).

Table 14: Respondents within each SIMD2016 quintile who have this as a priority (n=1,140)

SIMD2016 quintile	1	2	3	4	5
Advice and support about claiming	69%	66%	73%	71%	78%
Applying for a benefit	51%	50%	54%	50%	58%
Having a claim reconsidered or going to appeal	48%	51%	43%	44%	34%
Being kept up to date about your claim	47%	43%	47%	37%	42%
General enquires about benefits	23%	25%	23%	25%	26%
Being told the result of your application	19%	17%	13%	9%	9%
Making changes to your information after the result	13%	8%	15%	17%	12%
Making a complaint	9%	13%	10%	12%	3%
Something else	1%	1%	2%	6%	2%

Priorities by disability or long term health condition

'Advice and support about claiming' was highlighted as priority by a majority of respondents, regardless of disability or long term health condition.

There was some variation about how other areas were prioritised depending on someone's disability or long term health condition. People with a learning disability (56 per cent) and people without a disability or long term health condition (59 per cent) were more likely to priorities 'applying for a benefit' than they were 'having a claim reconsidered or going to appeal' which was a slightly higher priority for most other disabilities or health conditions listed. Table 15 illustrates how priorities vary across disability or long term health condition.

Table 15: Priorities for improvement by disability or long term health condition (n=1,109)

	A physical disability	Chronic pain lasting at least 3 months	Another long-term condition	Mental health condition	Deafness or severe hearing impairment	Blindness or severe vision impairment	A learning disability	None of the above
Advice and support about claiming	71%	68%	69%	66%	67%	72%	60%	78%
Having a claim reconsidered or going to appeal	51%	52%	50%	52%	55%	49%	39%	33%
Applying for a benefit	49%	49%	52%	51%	41%	45%	56%	61%
Being kept up to date about your claim	44%	46%	45%	45%	41%	38%	33%	44%
General enquiries about benefits	20%	18%	22%	20%	29%	26%	37%	29%
Being told the result of your application	19%	20%	18%	20%	17%	13%	11%	16%
Making changes to your information after the result	14%	13%	14%	14%	19%	19%	9%	12%
Making a complaint	12%	11%	9%	10%	12%	15%	14%	8%
Something else	2%	3%	2%	2%	2%	2%	4%	1%

Priorities by additional support needs

As illustrated in table 16, there is not a noteable variation in how respondents prioritised areas for change by whether or not they have additional support needs. Due to the sample size it is not possible to break this down further to look at variations between different types of additional support needs.

Table 16: Priorities for improvement by additional support needs (n=1,111)

	% of respondents without ASN	% of respondents with ASN
Advice and support about claiming	72%	69%
Applying for a benefit	52%	53%
Having a claim reconsidered or going to appeal	45%	47%
Being kept up to date about your claim	44%	44%
General enquires about benefits	25%	21%
Being told the result of your application	18%	19%
Making changes to your information after the result	13%	12%
Making a complaint	9%	11%
Something else	2%	2%

Priorities by caring responsibilities

There is not a substantial difference in how respondents prioritised areas for improvement depending on whether or not they have caring responsibilities. This is detailed in table 17.

Table 17: Priorities for improvement by caring responsibilities (n=1,144)

	% respondents without caring responsibility who have this as a priority	% respondents with caring responsibility who have this as a priority
Advice and support about claiming	70%	72%
Applying for a benefit	50%	56%
Having a claim reconsidered or going to appeal	46%	46%
Being kept up to date about your claim	44%	44%
General enquires about benefits	24%	24%
Being told the result of your application	18%	18%
Making changes to your information after the result	13%	11%
Making a complaint	12%	7%
Something else	2%	2%

Priorities by benefit type

Table 18 illustrates the priorities for improvement by the type of benefit that they have experience of. It is important to note that many respondents have experience of multiple benefits, and the response relates to the system as a whole, not their experience of accessing that benefit only.

Table 18: Priorities for improvement by benefit type (n=1,144)

	DLA	PIP	AA	SDA	IIDB	CA	FE	SSMG	CWP	WFP	DHP	SWF	UC
Advice and support about claiming	69%	68%	77%	70%	79%	74%	82%	71%	65%	72%	71%	66%	67%
Applying for a benefit	55%	53%	50%	49%	45%	57%	53%	53%	48%	46%	55%	54%	53%
Having a claim reconsidered or going to appeal	48%	50%	41%	43%	48%	46%	39%	42%	49%	50%	49%	55%	49%
Being kept up to date about your claim	43%	45%	37%	41%	35%	45%	40%	46%	44%	38%	42%	38%	40%
General enquires about benefits	21%	21%	30%	22%	24%	25%	25%	19%	23%	26%	21%	24%	27%
Being told the result of your application	19%	18%	19%	18%	23%	15%	26%	24%	23%	20%	18%	18%	16%
Making changes to your information after the result	14%	14%	14%	17%	13%	12%	12%	15%	18%	15%	12%	10%	11%
Making a complaint	10%	9%	9%	11%	11%	7%	5%	7%	9%	10%	11%	11%	15%
Something else	2%	2%	2%	4%	0%	1%	0%	0%	2%	2%	1%	1%	1%