Social Security Experience Panels: who is in the panels

Introduction

In May 2018 Social Security Experience Panels members were invited to take part in a survey to help us:

• Ensure their personal details are kept up to date
• Understand more about the demographic make-up of the panels
• Understand what is working well for Experience Panels members, and how we can improve their experience

915 people responded to the survey, which closed on 31 July 2018. The responses were combined with existing information about the demographic make-up on the panel collected as part of the "About Your Benefits and You" survey in 2017.

The purpose of the Experience Panels research is to inform the development of the new social security system in Scotland. Scottish Government is committed to the principle of co-design in this process. This research provides valuable demographic information about our respondents to inform how Scottish Government can engage with different groups when developing the new social security system. It also provides an overview of feedback from respondents about taking part in the Experience Panels and how we can improve this experience for them.

These findings will be used to help consider how we will engage with groups that are less well represented on the panel, and to consider how we can continue to improve our approach to be as inclusive and supportive to panel members as possible.

The findings below relate to those panel members who responded to this survey, not to all panel members. We will re-run these questions regularly with the aim of increasing the proportion of panel members we have demographic information on.