No One Left Behind User Experience Research
This report presents findings from a survey and qualitative research with service users of No One Left Behind funded support services across Scotland. It provides insights into service user experiences with a particular focus on parents, disabled people and people from a minority ethnic background.
1. Executive summary
Thinks Insight & Strategy were commissioned by the Scottish Government to deliver an evaluation of the Employability Child Poverty Coordinator role. The objectives of the research were to:
- Understand how the Coordinators are connected into the employability landscape and what difference they are making to the alignment and integration of public services
- Provide an overview of lessons learned from the implementation of the role
- Provide examples of how the role is working in practice in the form of case studies of Local Authorities.
To address these objectives, a programme of qualitative research was undertaken. Fieldwork included a qualitative consultation survey open to stakeholders working with Coordinators in all 32 local authorities across Scotland to obtain a national perspective on the role, and ‘case studies’ of more detailed investigation in 6 Local Authorities, each of which included an in-depth interview with the local Coordinator and a focus group with local stakeholders.
The key findings of the research were as follows:
1. Stakeholders felt the strategic purpose of the Coordinator role is to improve alignment and integration of parental employability services. They saw a clear need for the introduction of a role like this, with capacity for coordination having been seen as a major issue.
2. Establishing the role was mostly straightforward, but some areas struggled to fill the role due to issues with isolated geographic locations, or unappealing fixed term contracts.
3. The role is being implemented flexibly according to the needs of different areas. Building relationships, developing referral pathways, codesigning services, and engaging with national networks are commonly reported across Local Authorities that took part in the research. Other activities such as service mapping, data collection/analysis and employer outreach form part of the role in some areas but not others.
4. The role is broadly seen to have contributed to early improvements in the alignment and coordination of services. Gaps and overlaps in services have been identified and addressed, improved stakeholder understanding of services has strengthened referral pathways, and capacity for employability work within Local Authorities has increased.
5. The success of the role is attributed to several aspects of implementation, namely the dedicated capacity it provides for coordination, the flexibility of the role to adapt to local contexts, the position of the role as a ‘link’ between teams and a ‘knowledge base’ for the local area, and the emphasis on building networks and partnerships.
6. Where the role has worked less well, this is primarily attributed to the short-term funding cycle and fixed-term contracts for post-holders. This is felt to make it more difficult to achieve ‘buy in’ from potential partners, and to attract candidates to the role.