Five Family Payments: evaluation
This report details findings from an evaluation of the Five Family Payments.
Appendix A: Further analysis of commissioned survey data
As detailed in the Methodology chapter, further analysis was conducted on the commissioned survey data by Scottish Government analysts after the research project was completed by ScotCen. This was to provide more context on findings relating to subgroups of respondents. Specifically, to help explain why some subgroups were more or less likely to give positive responses about the impact of the benefits. The findings presented below are discussed in the Findings chapter, under the heading ‘Discussion of progress towards Five Family Payments outcomes’.
The further analysis involved frequency analysis, crosstabulation analysis, and significance testing.[61] It focused on the same subgroups as the main survey analysis that was reported throughout the Findings chapter. These related to the priority families who are most at risk of poverty, the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD), and length of benefit receipt. More detail on the subgroups is provided in the Methodology chapter.
Financial situation of respondents
In the survey, respondents were asked supplementary questions about their finances and health. This included the question: ‘How well would you say you yourself are managing financially these days?’.[62] As shown in Table 1 below:
- 28% of Scottish Child Payment recipients said they were ‘finding it quite difficult’ (18%) or ‘finding it very difficult’ (9%)
- 22% of Best Start Foods recipients said they were ‘finding it quite difficult’ (16%) or ‘finding it very difficult’ (6%)
- 24% of Best Start Grant recipients said they were ‘finding it quite difficult’ (16%) or ‘finding it very difficult’ (8%)
| Response option | Scottish Child Payment recipients | Best Start Foods recipients | Best Start Grant recipients |
|---|---|---|---|
| Living comfortably | 4% | 7% | 5% |
| Doing alright | 27% | 29% | 29% |
| Just about getting by | 40% | 38% | 39% |
| Finding it quite difficult | 18% | 16% | 16% |
| Finding it very difficult | 9% | 6% | 8% |
| Prefer not to say | 3% | 5% | 3% |
| Total number of respondents (unweighted) | 3,407 | 523 | 1,922 |
The only statistically significant differences related to the priority families most at risk of poverty. Amongst Scottish Child Payment recipients:
- Households with a disabled family member were more likely than those without disabled family member to say they were finding it ‘quite difficult’ or ‘very difficult’ (32% compared with 20%)
- Families with one or two children were more likely than families with three or more children to say they were finding it ‘quite difficult’ or ‘very difficult’ (28% compared with 24%).
Amongst Best Start Foods and Best Start Grant recipients, households with a disabled family member were more likely than those without disabled family member to say they were finding it ‘quite difficult’ or ‘very difficult’ (28% compared with 18% for Best Start Foods, and 30% compared with 18% for Best Start Grant).
The relationship between subgroups of clients
As explained above, the subgroups of clients included in the survey analysis are based on overarching variable categories relating to the priority families at risk of poverty, SIMD and length of benefit receipt. The subgroups themselves are binary. For example:
- For the ‘families with three or more children’ variable category the binary groups are (i) respondents with three or more children aged under 16 living in their household, and (ii) respondents with one or two children aged under 16 living in their household.
- For the ‘minority ethnic families’ variable category the binary groups are (i) respondents reporting a non-white ethnicity, and (ii) respondents reporting a white ethnicity.
However, whilst binary subgroups for individual variables are mutually exclusive, there will be considerable overlap in subgroups across variable categories. For example, respondents with three or more children aged under 16 could report either a white or non-white ethnicity.
Statistical tests were therefore performed to (a) examine the relationship between variable categories to determine if they are independent or related, and (b) to describe the relationship between variables which have a statistically significant association. Table 2 shows cases where variable categories are related, the description of the relationship in these cases, and for recipients of which Five Family Payments benefits this relationship exists. For example, the first row of results in Table 2 shows that:
- There is a statistically significant relationship between the variables ‘families with three or more children’ and ‘lone parent families’
- The description of the relationship between the variables shows that families with three or more children were more likely to have 2 or more parents/carers in the household (Note that the converse is also true – i.e. families with one or two children were more likely to have 1 parent/carer in the household)
- This relationship exists for (i) the sample of respondents who were receiving Scottish Child Payment and (ii) the sample of respondents who had received at least one Best Start Grant payment. It does not exist for the sample of respondents who were receiving Best Start Foods.
| Variable category 1 | Variable category 2 | Description of relationship between variables | For respondents receiving these benefits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Families with three or more children | Lone parent families | Families with 3 or more children more likely to have 2 or more parent/carers in household | SCP, BSG |
| Families with three or more children | Minority ethnic families | Families with 3 or more children more likely to be ethnic minority household | SCP, BSG |
| Families with three or more children | Families with children aged under 1 | Families with 3 or more children more likely to have a child aged under 1 | SCP, BSG |
| Families with three or more children | Length of benefit receipt | Families with 3 or more children more likely to have received benefit for over 12 months | SCP |
| Families with a disabled person | Minority ethnic families | Families with a disabled person more likely to be white ethnic families | SCP, BSF, BSG |
| Families with a disabled person | Families with children aged under 1 | Families with a disabled person more likely to not have children aged under 1 | SCP |
| Lone parent families | Minority ethnic families | Families with one parent/carer in household more likely to be white ethnic families | SCP, BSG |
| Lone parent families | Families with children aged under 1 | Families with one parent/carer in household more likely to not have children aged under 1 | SCP, BSF, BSG |
| Lone parent families | SIMD | Families with one parent/carer in household more likely to live in a 20% most deprived area | SCP |
| Lone parent families | Length of benefit receipt | Families with one parent/carer in household more likely to have received benefit for over 12 months | BSF |
| Families with children aged under 1 | Minority ethnic families | Families with children aged under 1 more likely to be ethnic minority families | SCP, BSG |
| Families with children aged under 1 | SIMD | Families with children aged under 1 more likely to live in a 20% most deprived area | SCP |
| Families with children aged under 1 | Length of benefit receipt | Families with children aged under 1 more likely to have received benefit for under 12 months | SCP, BSF |
| Minority ethnic families | SIMD | Minority ethnic families more likely to live in a 20% most deprived area | SCP |
| Minority ethnic families | Length of benefit receipt | Minority ethnic families more likely to have received benefit for under 12 months | BSF |
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