Scotland's Devolved Employment Services: Background and Methodology

5. Fair Start Scotland Background Information

FSS closed to new referrals on the 31st March 2024 and from October 2024 onwards the publication includes updates to employment outcomes only.

Tables

Detailed statistics on the number of referrals to FSS, number of starts and job outcomes are presented in the accompanying tables. The caveats that apply to national data also apply to Local Authority data.

Data sources

The Scottish Employability Tracking System (SETS) is the Scottish Government referrals tracking system for 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.

The statistics in the publication are based on figures extracted from SETS approximately 3 months prior to the publication date. 

Up until 31 March 2024, FSS service providers submitted quarterly excel data requests with personal characteristic information for participants such as age, sex, long-term health condition, disability and ethnic group. This submission does not contain any service level information.

Both data sources contain an anonymous ID number used to link them together to create a final dataset for analysis.

Information provided by service providers

The statistics on age, gender, long-term health conditions, disability and ethnic group are derived from information collected by service providers when an individual joined FSS. Information was usually collected via a combination of face-to-face interviews, SG equalities monitoring forms, phone conversations and electronic questionnaires using SG recommended questions and published using related output classifications.

Methodology

Referral

Referral numbers are net figures which excluded rejected referrals. The vast majority of those were duplicates.

Starts

The ‘start rate’ i.e. the percentage of people who joined FSS is calculated by dividing the number of starts by the number of referrals within a given period. People who were referred, particularly at the end, may not have had time to join the service by the end of that quarter.

Before April 2021, participants were only able to receive support from FSS once, therefore the number of starts on the service is the same as the number of unique people who have received support in years 1 to 3. With the extension of FSS beyond the initial three year period, from April 2021 people who have previously received support may re-join the service. There must be a break of at least 13 weeks since the person left FSS to become eligible. As a result of this change, the total number of starts in FSS, from the beginning of year 4 onwards and thus overall, is not the same as the number of people who have received support.

Early leavers

An early leaver is someone who exits the service before the end of the pre-employment support period without achieving an employment outcome.

Job starts

When an individual progresses into work, service providers record a ‘job start’ for the individual on SETS. An individual can enter employment more than once; however the figures in this publication are for the first recorded job. For individuals that re-join FSS, where applicable, their first recorded job during their initial period on the service will be counted as will their first recorded job during any subsequent periods on the service.

Employment outcomes

• A 3 month (13 week) job outcome is achieved when a participant stays in a job, or is self-employed, working 16 hours per week or more, for at least 13 weeks out of 16; that is, continuous employment, but not necessarily in the same job, lasting 13 out of 16 weeks.
• A 6 month (26 week) job outcome is achieved when a participant stays in a job, or is self-employed, working 16 hours per week or more, for at least 26 weeks out of 30; that is, continuous employment, but not necessarily in the same job, lasting 26 out of 30 weeks (breaks in employment must total no more than 4 weeks).
• A 1 year (12 month, 52 week) job outcome is achieved when a participant stays in a job, or is self-employed, working 16 hours per week or more, for at least 52 weeks out of 60; that is, continuous employment, but not necessarily in the same job, lasting 52 out of 60 weeks (breaks in employment must total no more than 8 weeks).

Disability

Disability is defined by two questions: i) Do you have a physical or mental health condition or illness lasting or expected to last 12 months or more? ii) Does your condition or illness reduce your ability to carry-out day-to-day activities?

If the answer to the first question is "yes", and the answer to the second is either "yes, a lot" or "yes, a little" then the participant is disabled as defined by the Equality Act (2010).

Ethnicity

The Fair Start Scotland data template collects ethnic group data as follows:

• A. White – (Scottish), (Other British), (Irish), (Gypsy Traveller), (Polish), (Other white ethnic group)
• B. Mixed or multiple ethnic groups
• C. Asian/Asian Scottish/Asian British – (Pakistani, Pakistani Scottish, Pakistani British), (Indian, Indian Scottish, Indian British), (Bangladeshi, Bangladeshi Scottish, Bangladeshi British), (Chinese, Chinese Scottish, Chinese British), (Other)
• D. African – (African, African Scottish, African British), (Other)
• E. Caribbean or Black – (Caribbean, Caribbean Scottish, Caribbean British), (Black, Black Scottish, Black British)
• F. Other Ethnic Group – (Arab, Arab Scottish, Arab British), (Other)
• G. – Not Recorded – (Not recorded)

It is important that results should be presented in as much detail as possible but this is often not possible due to small numbers, therefore categories are often combined. While this may hide inequalities that occur between separate ethnic groups, it allows some analysis by ethnicity to be carried out.

For the purposes of this report, category A is presented as White, and categories B, C, D, E, and F are presented as Minority Ethnic. Category G is categorised as Unknown. The term “Minority Ethnic” aids narrative and provides a concise terminology. The terminology used aligns with Scottish Government guidance (opens in a new window).

More detailed breakdowns by ethnicity will be included in future editions when sample sizes allow.

Parents

Data on lone parents was collected from the launch of FSS in April 2018. Data on age of youngest child and number of dependent children was additionally collected from late 2019 and we worked with providers to implement and improve the collection of this data for the remainder of year 2, resulting in better quality data for year 3 onwards. As a result, the percentage of parents increases over time, but this is likely to be a result of data collection changes rather than changes to the number of parents supported.

The Scottish Government has identified a number of ‘priority family groups’ at risk of child poverty, further information can be found here: Tackling child poverty priority families overview (opens in a new window).

Please note that the data presented in this publication and the supplementary statistical tables differs in some aspects from the priority family group definitions due mainly to its focus on participants rather than family units. For example, the data covers participants accessing FSS support that are disabled parents but does not include families with a disabled child, therefore differing from the ‘families with a disabled adult or child’ priority family type.

Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation

The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD - opens in a new window) is a relative measure of deprivation across 6,976 small areas (called data zones). If an area is identified as ‘deprived’, this can relate to people having a low income but it can also mean fewer resources or opportunities. People living in areas with higher levels of deprivation may find it more difficult to find employment.

Urban Rural Classification

The Scottish Government Urban Rural Classification (opens in a new window) provides a consistent way of defining urban and rural areas across Scotland. The classification is based upon population, as defined by the National Records of Scotland, and accessibility, based on drive time analysis to differentiate between accessible and remote areas in Scotland. The classification is available in multiple forms, including 2-fold as used in this publication, as well as 3-fold, 6-fold and 8-fold classifications.

Data quality

Some inconsistencies in responses to the questions on long-term health conditions and disability can be reported by service providers. These are identified and amended as follows:

Where people respond ‘No’ to the question asking whether respondents had a physical or mental health condition lasting, or expected to last 12 months or more but the second question on extent of limitation indicates a long-term health condition by responding “yes, a lot”, “yes, a little” or “not at all”, then these responses are excluded from the totals due to inconsistency. This is also the case if starts answer ‘No’ to the question on having a physical or mental health condition lasting, or expected to last 12 months or more but report one or more long-term health condition then these conditions are excluded from the count of long-term health conditions.

Comparisons with other employment services’ data

Please use caution when comparing FSS data with data from other employment services across the UK, as features of service design (e.g. whether voluntary or mandatory, eligibility criteria) and definitions (e.g. how job outcomes are measured) may differ.

Local Authority data

Please use caution in interpreting data at lower levels of geography, as numbers are small in some instances and there are many factors contributing to variations in totals across Local Authorities. The Scottish Government’s evaluation of year 1 of FSS suggests factors include the local reputation of FSS staff, the prior roles of staff and the reputation of previous services, the range of other existing services available in the area, the relationship between FSS provider staff and JCP work coaches, and the range and scale of local job opportunities.

Impact of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) on Fair Start Scotland

This publication includes data for FSS over a period from March 2020 onwards when the COVID-19 pandemic, associated public health measures and economic and labour market impacts have caused several changes which impact the statistics published here.

Key changes to FSS include the following:

1) Early in the pandemic, The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) refocused their work to deal with the increased demand for benefit claims, so FSS referrals from DWP were paused between April and June 2020.

2) As a result of this, there was an increase in the proportion of referrals to FSS through other avenues, particularly from FSS providers’ own marketing efforts.

3) FSS switched from face-to-face interaction to delivery via phone calls and online interaction. This affected the equalities data collected, with a decrease in people disclosing information on protected characteristics like ethnicity on joining FSS. Data collection methods were adapted to the new circumstances in consideration of data protection guidance. It also caused disruption to some providers where data was held in the workplace and was not available to staff working from home. There were particularly high levels of missing data for ethnicity in July to September 2020. Data collection has since improved. During the quarter April-June 2021 some providers had a limited return to meeting participants in person, depending on the local situation and participant’s preference.

4) There was a relaxation of rules specifying how often participants must be in contact with providers, from March to September 2020. This meant that some people who would otherwise be considered to have left the service during this period stayed on FSS.

5) There were fewer job vacancies in Scotland for approximately one year. ONS data showed a sharp reduction in job vacancies in Scotland during April 2020 to approximately 40% of the level seen in February 2020, finally returning to February 2020 levels by April 2021. Lower levels of job vacancies would be expected to affect rates of job starts and outcomes in FSS, but numbers of job starts in FSS didn’t necessarily follow trends in job vacancies.