No One Left Behind User Experience Research

2. Project background and methodology

2.1. Project background

Within Scotland, child poverty remains a significant social and economic issue with the creation of a range of policy interventions aimed at tackling or reducing this. Recent statistical data from the Scottish Government indicates that close to one in four (23%) children in Scotland were living in relative poverty after housing costs in 2021-2024.^[1] Certain groups also disproportionality experienced child poverty, such as lone-parent households, families with a disabled member, larger families with over three children, and ethnic minority families.^[2] These characteristics demonstrate the structural nature of child poverty.

The Child Poverty Scotland Act (2017) set the trajectory for Scotland’s approach to tackling child poverty, establishing statutory targets for child poverty reduction, and mandating local authority collaboration. Key to this act is the tackling of parental underemployment (limited or poorly compensated employment), which stems from complex factors such as lack of skills needed for the workplace, limited childcare options, transport issues, and disability or health issues.^[3]

No One Left Behind is the overarching approach to transforming employability support in Scotland. Since 2019 No One Left Behind introduced a local partnership model for employability where local authorities serve as Lead Accountable Bodies, and Local Employability Partnerships (LEPs) bring together partners responsible for planning, coordinating, and delivering employability services tailored to local needs.

‘Tackling child poverty by increasing parental income from employment’ was explicitly recognised as a priority in the creation of No One Left Behind. To this end, the Parental Employability Support Fund (PESF) was created in 2019 to tackle parental unemployment specifically, with a focus on providing targeted, holistic support through a ‘key worker’ approach.⁴ It is used to fund key workers dedicated to addressing both in-work and out-of-work poverty, with funding available since April 2020, and is now fully integrated into No One Left Behind approach.

The Employability Child Poverty Coordinator (Coordinator) role was introduced in 2023 by the Scottish Government in recognition of the work required by Local Employability Partnerships (LEPs) to support this holistic approach. A copy of the job description is provided in Appendix 6.6. The role was created to improve the alignment and coordination of employability services for parents of low-income families in local authorities.

Following its first two years of existence, the Scottish Government commissioned Thinks Insight and Strategy to conduct an evaluation of the Coordinator role. The objectives of the research were to:

• Understand how the Employability Child Poverty Coordinators are connected into the employability landscape and what difference are they making to the alignment and integration of public services
• Provide an overview of lessons learned from implementing Employability Child Poverty Coordinators, and;
• Provide examples of how the role is working in practice, in the form of case studies of local authorities.

The core research questions underpinning this work were:

• What is the role of the Employability Child Poverty Coordinators and is there consistency in how this is understood by different stakeholders?
• How have the Employability Child Poverty Coordinators been implemented across different local authorities, and how did those experiences vary across the country?
• What are the early examples of public services being aligned and integrated within the local area as a result of the role?
• What has worked well in implementing the roles and what could be improved?
• How is the impact of the Coordinators’ work being measured?
• Were there particular skills and attributes that helped post holders achieve their aims more effectively?
• What lessons can be learned for the future?

Findings from this research will provide insight into how the role has been implemented across local authorities in Scotland, and early evidence of the difference made within local authorities and partnership work. These insights will help inform future policy-making around the implementation of the role and its position within wider efforts to tackle child poverty.

2.2. Methodology

Using qualitative methods, a 3-stage programme of research was undertaken. An overview is provided in Figure 1:

Plain text version:

Step 1 set up includes inception meeting, Theory of Change workshop and inception report.

Step 2 qualitative consultation survey shared with all 32 local authorities.

Step 3 case study deep dives with 6 local authority areas.

Step 4 reporting.

2.2.1 Stage one: Set up

Inception meeting: Used to discuss key objectives and research questions, agree measures of success for the project and specifications for the research, and to make early arrangements for the creation of a Theory of Change (see section 2.2.4).

Theory of Change workshop: To develop a Theory of Change for the implementation of the Coordinator role. This involved the Research Advisory Group (Scottish Government and Improvement Service stakeholders) workshop (see section 2.2.4 for more detail on the Theory of Change). This was used to construct an evaluation matrix against which research materials were structured and evidence was assessed (see section 6.2 of the Appendix for full evaluation matrix).

2.2.2 Stage two: Qualitative survey

An online qualitative survey was open to individuals across all 32 local authorities in Scotland who had engaged with or worked alongside a Coordinator as part of their role. The 30-minute survey was live from Tuesday 11^th November 2025 to Friday 23^rd January 2026, and consisted of 12 open text questions plus an additional 4 closed quantitative profiling questions, 1 screening question, and 1 closed quantitative rating question. Feedback from the Research Advisory Group informed the final design of the questionnaire. The questionnaire can be found in section 6.3 of the appendix. Reminders were sent and the fieldwork period extended to maximise responses.

The survey was distributed through key contacts – the majority Employability Leads – at each of the 32 local authorities in Scotland. These key contacts were provided with the online survey link for distribution to relevant individuals (those engaged with or who worked alongside a Coordinator as part of their role). These contacts also supported with sending reminders to the relevant individuals to complete the survey.

Responses were received from 20 local authority areas. The distribution of responses can be seen in section 6.1.2 in the appendix.

2.2.3 Stage three: Case studies

Alongside the qualitative survey, research was conducted in 6 case study areas between Tuesday 16^th December 2025 and Wednesday 11^th January 2026. The purpose of the case studies was to gather further qualitative insight into how the Coordinator role has been implemented across different local authorities, how experiences varied across Scotland, what worked well in the implementation of the role, early examples of public service alignment and integration, if and how impact is being measured, and any lessons learned.

Six local authorities for the case studies were identified. These were selected to reflect a diverse range of geography (urban/rural/islands), population size, affluence/child poverty rates, and approaches to tackling child poverty. The 6 areas selected were Clackmannanshire, Dundee City, East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Highland, and Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles).

Fieldwork for the case studies comprised of the following for each area:

• 1x 60-minute, online interview with the Coordinator in post
• 1x 60-minute, online focus group with 3-7 individuals who have experience engaging with or working alongside their local Coordinator as part of their role. Participants were identified by the key contact for the local authority. Representation in the focus groups included a mix of attendees working in the local authority and other relevant organisations; as well as a mix in terms of the closeness with which they worked alongside their local Coordinator.^[4]

Topics covered in the interviews and focus groups included:

• Understanding the underlying context in the local authorities
• Exploring the current functioning of the Coordinator role
• Exploring the identified outputs, outcomes, and impacts of the Coordinator role
• Identifying lessons learned from the implementation of the Coordinator role

The discussion guides used for case study fieldwork can be found in the appendix (section 4.4) alongside a breakdown of the sample interviewed (section 4.1). Throughout the design of the discussion guides, feedback from the Research Advisory Group was incorporated.

The full case studies can be found in the appendix, which provide a detailed view on how the Coordinator role is working in practice across local authorities from both Coordinators themselves as well as those who work closely alongside them. Findings from the case studies are integrated throughout the report to add detail, nuance, and examples to the national picture.

2.3. Limitations of the approach

• As responses were not received from all local authorities (responses from one or more individuals from 20 out of 32), the findings reflect the range of views and experiences of these local authorities. Those who did not respond may have different views or experiences.
• Participation in the qualitative survey and case studies research was voluntary. As a result the sample may over-represent the views of those who were more motivated to participate (for example, due to holding strong views on how the Coordinator role has been implemented).
• Sample sizes for the case study focus groups were not consistent across local authorities due to the voluntary nature of participation. The level of detail or information received across discussions varied. Findings for the case studies have been analysed and explored with this context in mind.

2.4. Theory of change

2.4.1 What is a Theory of Change?^[5]

A Theory of Change is a tool used as a visual representation of a detailed hypothesis of how and why change happens, and the steps to enacting that change.

Once a Theory of Change has been developed, it can be used as a tool for evaluating a policy or intervention by identifying what is currently happening or is in place (or not), and to identify the extent to which it has been effective in producing the desired change.

2.4.2 A Theory of Change for the Coordinator role

A Theory of Change was developed (see Figure 2) to provide a shared understanding of how the Coordinator role is intended to result in improved outcomes for parents in low-income families. It sets out the logical pathway for this, including the inputs underpinning the establishment and functioning of the role, the activities Coordinators are expected to undertake, the resulting outputs and outcomes, and the subsequent impact of these.

The Theory of Change was developed in a workshop session with key stakeholders at the start of this research project. Throughout the project, it was used as a practical framework to guide the evaluation, particularly the design of research materials and reporting outputs. The research approach used here also acknowledges that the Coordinator role is likely to vary significantly between local authorities to fit the local context and meet the needs of parents and stakeholders. This means that there is no expectation in this report that the role should be delivered exactly as specified in the Theory of Change in every local area, or that the role should be considered as underperforming if it is not doing so.

Plain text version:

Inputs include resources from LAs, funding from Scottish Government, existing services and networks, data/evidence and No One Left Behind strategic direction.

Activities include recruitment, relationship building, codesign of service pathways, mapping services and stakeholders, evidence collection and sharing best practice.

Outputs include new guidance on service pathways, improved networks, up to date service and stakeholder maps, improved evidence base and engagement around best practice.

Outcomes include improved integration of services, clarity around service availability, reduced duplication of services, identified gaps, evidence based service provision and best practice adopted.

Impact includes well-integrated and coordinated suite of services in local areas leading to more parents in sustainable and fair work.

Assumptions include child poverty remaining a high priority, continuation of the No One Left Behind approach, buy-in from local authorities and stakeholders and unique context in local areas informing the ECPC role.