No One Left Behind: user experience research

Executive summary

No One Left Behind is the Scottish Government’s approach to funding local employability support services. It aims to deliver ‘an employability system that tackles inequalities in Scotland’s labour market, creating a responsive and aligned approach that helps people of all ages who face the greatest barriers to progress towards, into and to sustain work’. This report presents findings from a survey and qualitative research with service users of No One Left Behind funded support services across Scotland. It aims to provide timely, robust insights into service user experiences, with a particular focus on the experiences of parents, disabled people, and people from a minority ethnic background.

Key findings

How are users accessing services?

Service users had first heard about employability support through a wide range of both formal and informal routes. The most common routes were through the Jobcentre, school or college, friends or family, or via a careers adviser. Those who wanted specific support tended to have been more proactive in searching for employability services. Others had come across services through word of mouth and decided they might be useful to them.

Overall, a majority of services users said they found accessing the support they needed, when they needed it ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ easy, although around one in ten found it ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ difficult. The main facilitators to accessing support were: easy to navigate websites, straightforward application forms, and quick responses from services. The main barriers to accessing support (among the minority who had found it difficult) were: that staff were not felt to have been helpful or supportive; that the support offered did not suit their needs; the service was difficult to contact or slow to respond; the service was not well known or advertised; and that the service was not easy to get to or was not in a suitable location.

What motivates users to access and persist with services?

Specific motivations for seeking out support included: to help find a job that fits particular experience, expertise and requirements; support for getting back into work after a period out of work; to identify and access volunteering, work placement, or apprenticeship opportunities; to access funding for job-related training; to (re)build confidence; and to access support with mental health and wellbeing.

The main factors that encouraged service users to stay in touch with employability support services were the quality of the support or advice given and their relationship with staff. Both emotional support and reliable, continuous practical support and checking-in were critical in maintaining service users’ engagement with support, as well as motivating them in their employment journey.

What specific support are users receiving as part of the service?

The most common types of employability support survey respondents received were job search and application support, careers information, advice and guidance, support to access education, training or apprenticeships, and support to build confidence.

Where service users said they had unmet needs, they often commented that services had not provided enough specific support on the sector they were interested in. Recent immigrants wanted more support with understanding the UK labour market.

To what extent are services being delivered in line with expected NOLB standards, in the experience of users and providers?

Feedback from service users indicated that in most cases, services were being delivered in close alignment to the Employability Service Standards. Most service users felt they had always been treated with dignity and respect; that they had been listened to; that services were flexible; that they had been treated as an individual; that services were delivered by staff who were knowledgeable; and that services worked with them to tailor support to their needs. A majority of service users also agreed that services were able to help them find any other support they needed, although this statement did attract a slightly lower overall level of agreement.

Service users valued support tailored to their career aspirations and circumstances. For disabled service users and parents, tailoring support to their health needs or caring responsibilities was important in shaping satisfaction.

The Employment Support Services Charter includes an expectation that employability services will actively seek feedback from service users to learn and continually improved services. However, most service users had not been asked for feedback prior to taking part in the survey.

To what extent do users disengage from services, and what are the reasons for this?

Around a third (36%) of respondents (who had first contacted support 6-18 months ago) were no longer in touch with employability services. This further divided into 22% of all respondents who said this was because they no longer needed support or had got the outcome they wanted, and 13% of respondents who had disengaged for another reason. These included life events or changes in their own circumstances, or issues relating to the quality or nature of support they had been offered. Qualitative interviews also highlighted a lack of tailoring of support to their personal needs and aspirations, poor communication or responsiveness, and being moved between support workers (resulting in having to repeat their stories) as reasons for disengagement.

In addition to the above, over one in ten respondents said they did not know whether they were still in touch with their support services. Qualitative interviews indicated that this could occur when services had not been in regular contact, leaving them unsure if they were still registered.

Key differences in the experiences of the three priority groups

Experiences of disabled service users

• Barriers: Disabled service users were more likely than those without a disability to face multiple barriers to accessing education, training or work, including both issues relating to physical and mental health and confidence, and to external factors, such as labour market conditions and employer attitudes. This reflects wider Labour Market statistics and Scottish Government No One Left Behind statistics, which show that disabled people face the greatest barriers to employment of any group analysed, with markedly lower job entry rates, longer times from starting to receive support to entering employment, and lower rates of sustained employment at 52 weeks.
• Finding out about support: Disabled service users were relatively more likely to hear about employability support through health professionals. They were also more likely to say they found support difficult to access, and that services had been difficult to contact or slow to respond, and did not offer support that suited their needs.
• Type of support accessed and unmet needs: Disabled services users were more likely than average to have received support with confidence building and health-related support, but also to say that they wanted more support with these areas. In addition, they were particularly likely to want more support with accessing education, training or apprenticeships; careers information and advice (with advice on benefits specifically a suggested area for improvement); and accessing volunteering or work placements. More flexible work opportunities in general was also a priority area for improvement for disabled people.
• Experiences of support: Disabled services users were less likely than average to agree services were flexible; tailored to their needs; or able to help them find other support they needed. Empathy, listening and adaptation to their needs were key to a positive experience, with ‘good relationships with staff’ particularly key to disabled people’s continued engagement with support. Staff sharing characteristics with service users (e.g. having experienced health difficulties or being neurodivergent) could help support this connection. Some disabled participants felt employability staff underestimated their abilities or aspirations.

Experiences of service users from minority ethnic backgrounds

• Barriers: Service users from minority ethnic backgrounds were less likely to say confidence and self-esteem or mental health issues were barriers to employment, education and training. It is impossible to draw definitive conclusions on the reasons for this. However, it is possible that it reflects cultural differences around reporting and seeking support for mental health and wellbeing issues, requiring culturally appropriate resources and responses.
• Finding out about support: Migrants to the UK may not be aware that employability support exists or that they are eligible to access it. Some uncertainty existed around how employability support offers interact with visa restrictions on entitlement to public funds.
• Type of support received and unmet needs: Service users from minority ethnic backgrounds were more likely than others to have received support with English skills, and less likely to have received support accessing education, training or apprenticeships. They were also more likely to want (more) support with careers information; volunteering or work placements; and English skills. Having access to ‘more jobs that match your skills’ was a key area for improvement among this group.
• Experiences of support: Overall, participants from minority ethnic backgrounds had positive views of support being provided in accordance with service standards. However, there were some mixed reflections on staff knowledge around supporting users whose qualifications and experience were gained outside the UK, and around understanding of visa conditions around work and benefits. Offering flexibility around meeting formats was important to some who spoke English as a second language (e.g. offering video calls, which enable auto-generated translation).

Experiences of service users who are parents

• Barriers: Childcare issues and money worries were key barriers to accessing education, training or work for parents, especially single parents. Frustrations with a lack of part-time and flexible working options were key motivations for seeking support.
• Finding out about support: Jobcentre was a key referral route for single parents, while social media was more important to parents’ awareness of employability services compared with non-parents. Parents were more likely than average to say they found it easy to access the right support when they needed it, however.
• Type of support accessed and unmet needs: Parents were, unsurprisingly, more likely than average to have received support to access childcare. However, only a small minority of parents said they had received help with childcare compared with the proportion saying childcare was a barrier. And parents, especially single parents and those with children with ASNs, indicated that they would like employability services to provide more support with childcare.
• Experiences of support: Parents were more likely than average to agree that services always treated them with dignity and respect, treated them as an individual, listened to them, and were flexible. Flexing support around childcare was particularly important for parents. This extended to onward referrals as well as immediate support (e.g. courses being able to flex around childcare commitments).

Recommendations

Overall, this report indicates high levels of satisfaction with No One Left Behind funded employability support. However, it also indicates a number of potential areas for improvement to ensure that all service users are consistently able to access personalised, tailored support that meets their needs.

Improving the accessibility of services:

• Clarify and communicate eligibility for employability support (especially for non-UK citizens) (Local authorities (LAs), service providers (SPs))
• Review registration processes to ensure they are accessible (especially for disabled and neurodiverse people) (LAs, Local Employability Partnerships (LEPs))
• Consider different awareness raising routes for different groups of service users (reflecting on different routes identified in this research) (LEPs, SPs)

Enhancing what is offered to better meet service users’ needs

• Enhance sector-specific guidance and support to help support staff to provide more tailored support (Scottish Government (SG), LEPs)
• Review or provide guidance on transferability of qualifications and experience gained overseas (SG and national partners – for example, Skills Development Scotland, Qualifications Scotland)
• Review local training provision to a) ensure there is appropriate accessible provision for those who need greater flexibility and b) that it offers an appropriate range of content for those at different stages of their employability journey (LEPs)
• Ensure that the range of services offered are clearly communicated from the outset (LEPs, SPs), with reminders on an ongoing basis, including when people are in work but may need future support to help them process or change jobs.

Enhancing how services are delivered to ensure they reflect service standards

• Ensure consistency and timeliness of support, with expectations around timing clearly communicated and consistently met (SPs)
• Ensure clarity around ending support, so that services users are not left unclear whether they are still meant to be receiving support (SPs)
• Flexing support around changes in service users’ circumstances where possible, adapting support around changes in life circumstances (SPs)
• Ensure staff are trained in supporting people with disabilities and neurodiversity (SG to ensure consistent skills are developed nationally, working with LEPs around local provision, and SPs ensuring their own staff are appropriately trained)
• Consider developing service ‘pathways’ for different groups (SG to develop national pathways, LEPs to tailor as appropriate for local areas). These ‘pathways’ could be used by both service providers, to ensure they have offered all the relevant support and information someone might benefit from, and by service users, to understand their options and ensure they are not missing out on support that would be helpful to them.
• Actively increase opportunities for services users to provide feedback on support (SPs collecting feedback, LEPs using this feedback to inform local planning and commissioning)

Tackling wider barriers to employment

This research has also highlighted wider barriers to employment, such as employer and wider public attitudes to disability, the availability of support to address mental and physical health issues, lack of suitable childcare options, and the application of Home Office rules around immigration. While these involve issues that go beyond the content and delivery of employability support, addressing these challenges may nonetheless be critical to achieving the ultimate aims of No One Left Behind.

Future monitoring and research

The findings in this report also highlight a number of areas where monitoring could be strengthened and where further research might be needed to support improvements to employability services, including:

• Adding ‘low confidence and self-esteem’ and ‘money worries’ to the barriers to work, education and training currently captured by the national Data Reporting Template, to ensure services are shaped by an accurate picture of the most common barriers people face.
• Further qualitative research to explore disabled people’s employability experiences in more detail. This reflects the fact that disabled people face particularly acute barriers to employment. Understanding the diversity of disabled people’s lived experience – including the experiences of those with particular conditions – in more depth than was possible in this research would support services’ ability to tailor support to individual needs.