Fair Start Scotland Evaluation Report - Year 6: Phone Survey with Service Participants - March 2026

Footnotes

1 See Appendix: Fair Start Scotland Evaluation Reports, for all FSS Reports.

2 Following the extension of FSS beyond the initial three-year period, people who previously received support could re-join the service. There must have been a break of at least 13 weeks since the person left FSS to become eligible. As a result, the total number of starts in years 1 to 3 equals the number of people, but from year 4 onwards and thus overall, the total number of starts is not the same as the number of people who received support.

3 Someone is defined as having left FSS early - an ‘early leaver’ - if they leave FSS before the end of the pre-employment support period, and without having sustained employment for at least 3 months.

4 A non-response bias refers to the phenomenon in which the sample of participants is systematically different from the population it was drawn from, because participants with certain characteristics are less likely to accept an invitation to take part in a study.

5 As Fair Start Scotland closed to new referrals on 31^st March 2024, the last quarterly publication was in July 2025. However, as the final intake of FSS participants (January – March 2024) can continue to achieve job outcomes, the next FSS update will be late 2026, once most of the participants from the final intake have had enough time to reach a 12-month job outcome.

6 These are the proportions after weighting was applied. See the Technical Appendix for a detailed breakdown of both unweighted and weighted participants.

7 The earnings analysis is based on what participants’ reported their earnings to be, rather than based on official PAYE data, therefore the analysis represents an estimate of whether participants were earning the National Living Wage, the Real Living Wage or the National Minimum Wage at the time of the survey.

8 It should be noted that we cannot determine how much of this increase reflects progression versus changes such as moving to the next age-related minimum wage bracket. This is because date of birth data was not available and the survey did not collect this information.

9 When findings on employment status are discussed, the following category is used (among others): “working for an employer in a paid role”. This category does not include participants who are self-employed.

10 The service providers over the survey period were Falkirk Council, People Plus, Remploy, Start Scotland, and The Wise Group. The nine geographical Lots were: Lot 1 Glasgow; Lot 2 Lanarkshire; Lot 3 Tayside; Lot 4 Forth Valley; Lot 5 East; Lot 6 South West; Lot 7 North East; Lot 8 Highlands and Islands; and, Lot 9 West.

11 Statistics taken from Fair Start Scotland (Official Statistics) - Scotland's Devolved Employment Services: Fair Start Scotland Statistical Summary February 2025 - gov.scot

12 More detail on this methodological approach can be found in the Technical Appendix.

13 A non-response bias refers to the phenomenon in which the sample of participants is systematically different from the population it was drawn from, because participants with certain characteristics are less likely accept invitation to take part in a study.

14 This is a trend consistent with data from the Education by Ethnic Group, age 25+, Census 2022 – Grampian Regional Equality Council, which shows that people from minority ethnic backgrounds aged 25 and over were more likely to be qualified to degree level or above than those identifying as white Scottish or British.

15 Someone is defined as having left Fair Start Scotland early - an ‘early leaver’ - if they leave FSS before the end of the pre-employment support period, and without having sustained employment for at least 3 months.

16 The Supported Employment Model for Disabled People is an evidence-based approach that is designed to help disabled people, and people with long-term health conditions to find sustainable paid employment. The Scottish Government (SG) commissioned an independent Review of Supported Employment in Scotland, and published the SG response to the Reviews nine recommendations to improve supported employment delivery.

17 The IPS is a model of supported employment proven to work particularly well in offering assistance to people with additional support needs, especially those with severe and enduring mental ill-health, to help them find or re-enter sustainable employment that fits their needs and interests. The Scottish Government commissioned an independent Review of Fair Start Scotland’s Individual Placement and Support (IPS), and published the SG response to the Reviews three recommendations.

18 The researchers cannot definitively say if a laptop was not needed for those in the most deprived areas, as the base sizes when looking at take up levels are too low (<30 respondents).

19 The following types of support were introduced in the Wave 2 survey for the 2019 cohort so comparisons cannot be made with the 2018 cohort: Specialist support for a mental health condition; specialist support for a physical health condition; and, help with managing finances or dealing with debt. The following types of support were introduced in the Wave 4 survey for the 2021-22 cohort so comparisons cannot be made with previous waves: Help with English language skills; and, provided with a laptop or tablet.

20 However within FSS a job outcome is classed as 16 hours or more, therefore anyone moving into a job of fewer than 16 hours is still classed as not working and remains eligible for pre-employment support.

21 In the survey, participants were asked about their current working status but they were not asked whether they were in work when they were receiving support from FSS.

22 SETS is the referrals tracking system for Fair Start Scotland (FSS). Information on those referred to FSS (“referrals”) and outcomes relating to those individuals including those who join FSS (“starts”), enter employment (“job starts”), and subsequently achieve employment outcomes (“job outcomes”), is recorded on SETS. It tracks the progress of referrals made to the service and provides management information in relation to performance. It does not contain any personal characteristics.

23 Someone is defined as having left FSS early - an ‘early leaver’ - if they leave FSS before the end of the pre-employment support period, and without having sustained employment for at least 3 months.

24 ‘SUMMARY: Was taken off the service includes the following answers: I had a Work Capability Assessment and was put into the Support Group/found not to be fit for work; I was signed off Job Seekers Allowance/Employment and Support Allowance; Jobcentre Plus told me I could not stay on the service any longer; and, I was signed off Universal Credit.

25 This question was asked at Wave 3 to the 2018, 2019 and 2020 cohorts, at Wave 4 to the 2021-22 cohort and at Wave 5 to the 2023-24 cohort.

26 As Fair Start Scotland closed to new referrals on 31^st March 2024, the last quarterly publication was in July 2025. However, as the final intake of FSS participants (January – March 2024) can continue to achieve job outcomes, the next FSS update will be late 2026, once most of the participants from the final intake have had enough time to reach a 12-month job outcome.

27 Economically inactive is defined as: in education or training; not in employment because of a sickness or disability; looking after the home or family full-time; caring for an adult relative or friend with a disability or long-term illness; working in a voluntary or other unpaid role; or, retired and/or claiming a pension.

28 When findings on employment status are discussed in this report, the following category is used (among others): “working for an employer in a paid role”. This category does not include participants who are self-employed.

29 The job roles and descriptions were coded using the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Standard Occupational Classification Hierarchy. The figures in the occupational groups have been rounded to the nearest whole percentage, as a result some of the occupation groups do not match the sum of the hierarchical groups.

30 Pay range bands in the survey were asked as hourly rates, but annual rates were also provided so the interviewer could ask this if the participant only knew their pay in annual terms.

31 To ensure Fair Start Scotland offers the most effective employability support possible to participants, a number of key features are integral to its delivery. The service provider must promote the Scottish Government’s ambitions around Fair Work, payment of the Real Living Wage and support the Scottish Government’s Diversity and Equality Policy to supply chain/consortia partners and the employers that they work with. The Scottish Government were not able to mandate the Real Living Wage as a condition in the delivery of Fair Start Scotland. Employment policy is not devolved, and the National Minimum Wage is the legal requirement across the United Kingdom. It is worth noting that Fair Start Scotland contracts pre-date the Scottish Government’s commitment to strengthening Fair Work policy in relation to promoting the Real Living Wage.

32 Please note that separate legal requirements on minimum wage apply to apprenticeships

33 The National Minimum Wage and Living Wage: Who gets the minimum wage - GOV.UK

34 Employment rights and pay for interns - GOV.UK A stipend refers to a regular fixed sum of money paid to individuals for services or to cover/pay expenses, such as for scholarships, internships, or apprenticeships.

35 Please note that separate legal requirements on minimum wage apply to apprenticeships.

36 FSS aims to support people into fair and sustainable work at the right time for them, avoiding exploitative employment practices, including for example no inappropriate use of zero hours contracts. Employability in Scotland provides more information on the aims of the FSS service. For comparison, the rate of people in employment who were employed on zero hours contract in Scotland as a whole in the comparable time period to when the survey took place was 3.4% for Oct-Dec 2022 and 3.9% for Jan-Mar 2023, as reported by the Office for National Statistics.

37 It should be noted that we cannot determine how much of this increase reflects progression versus changes such as moving to the next age-related minimum wage bracket. This is because date of birth data was not available, and the survey did not collect this information.

38 Within FSS a job outcome is classed as 16 hours or more, therefore anyone moving into a job of fewer than 16 hours is still classed as not working and remains eligible for pre-employment support.

39 They reported feeling more confident conducting all job search activities, except making a list of the skills they have and completing a good job application and CV.

40 In order to calculate this average, the difference (in terms of number of months) between the month in which participants joined the FSS service and the month in which they responded to the survey was calculated. Exact start dates were not available for participants in the longitudinal sample; only the quarter in which they joined the service was available. A consistent approach was thereby adopted: the month in the middle of the relevant quarter (e.g. February in Quarter 1) was used for this calculation for all participants.

41 When findings on employment status are discussed in this report, the following category is used (among others): “working for an employer in a paid role”. This category does not include participants who are self-employed.

42 This group was determined by participants’ current employment status as well as whether they had had any breaks in employment (defined by the new question at Wave 5, F1e).

43 Within FSS a job outcome is classed as 16 hours or more, therefore anyone moving into a job of fewer than 16 hours is still classed as not working and remains eligible for pre-employment support.

44 More detail on these numbers can be found here: Supporting documents - Scotland's Devolved Employment Services: Fair Start Scotland Statistical Summary May 2025 - gov.scot

45 Version 29.0.2.0

46 Sergey Dorofeev and Peter Grant, Statistics for Real Life Sample Surveys (Cambridge University Press, 2006), page 154.

Dorofeev and Grant also make the point that the need for weighting means that the sample will not be a simple random sample with the implication that practical compromises need to be made in the application of statistical methods (Dorofeev and Grant, 2006:54).