Scotland's Devolved Employment Services: No One Left Behind Statistical Summary February 2026
Official Statistics in development on the No One Left Behind strategic approach to employability delivery, reporting on those receiving support from April 2019 to September 2025.
About this publication
This is the 33rd edition of this quarterly statistical report providing summary information on Scotland’s devolved employability services. This report focuses on the No One Left Behind strategic approach to employability delivery in Scotland covering the period April 2019 to September 2025.
Further detailed statistics for No One Left Behind are published in accompanying tables alongside this report.
No One Left Behind
No One Left Behind, introduced from April 2019, is a different approach to employability delivery which moves away from funding and delivering a number of separate and distinct employability programmes, to a more flexible approach. This system is more tailored and responsive to the needs of people of all ages who want help and support on their journey towards, into and in work - particularly people with health conditions, disabled people and others who are disadvantaged in the labour market.
The key priorities for No One Left Behind were set-out in the No One Left Behind: employability strategic plan 2024 to 2027 (Access the strategic plan – opens in new window) published in September 2024. The first annual report updating this plan was published in December 2025 (Access the first annual report – opens in new window).
Shared Measurement Framework Data Reporting Template
From October 2022 (July 2022 for 13 Local Authorities who adopted the new template early), a new data reporting template (Access the new data template - opens in new window) co-designed with a cross-sectoral group and aligned to the Shared Measurement Framework (SMF) has been in place. We continue to work closely with Local Authorities to improve the accuracy and quality of returns following this transition.
Official Statistics in Development
Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics (Access the Code of Practice – opens in new window) that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.
You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards by emailing: employabilitydata@gov.scot. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing: regulation@statistics.gov.uk.
The statistics presented in this publication are Official Statistics in Development. Official statistics in development are official statistics that are undergoing development; they may be new or existing statistics, and will be tested with users, in line with the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics. These were previously referred to as experimental statistics.
Users should be aware that official statistics in development may have a wider degree of uncertainty and require extra caution when interpreting results.
Data Developments and Issues in this Edition
- We have applied the new methodology used to measure the progression of participants who have entered employment to breakdowns by Local Authority and by long-term health conditions. This means that all progression tabs are now using the new methodology.
- Data on participants receiving Specialist Employability Support (SES) is included in this publication for the first time. Additional funding was provided in 2025/26 to ensure SES was available across Scotland. The SMF Data Reporting Template was updated in the summer of 2025 to allow reporting on this.
Table 1: Specific data quality issues in this publication
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Description |
Mitigation |
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Some Local Authorities (for example, Western Isles and Scottish Borders) have been prioritising data quality checks. As a result, historical data relating to some variables have been updated to more accurately reflect what is or is not known about participants. In particular, participant information has been changed from ‘not recorded’ to ‘no’ if it can be confirmed that a participant does not have this characteristic. As a result of this, although some figures in this publication will differ to those in previous publications, this publication contains the most up to date data. |
We are working with Local Authorities to ensure the highest level of quality for data returns and continue to monitor returns closely. While local monitoring and improvements to data quality may cause short-term changes to previous data, this should be considered as a positive as the overall quality of data improves from these updates.
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Following an internal quality assurance exercise, Fife has revised its disability and further/higher education data. These revisions have resulted in an increase in the reported numbers for both categories.
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We have been reassured by the Local Authority that no further changes to this data are anticipated. |
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Renfrewshire removed over 1,200 Long Term Unemployed start dates that were previously reported in error. This has resulted in a lower count of Entered FE/HE and/or training: LTU accredited training compared to our previous publication (October 2025). |
This should be considered as a positive as the overall quality of data improves from these updates.
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In addition, there can be a delay between participants starting to receive No One Left Behind support and this being reported to the Scottish Government while the process of verifying eligibility takes place. This means participants who started in earlier quarters may not be reported until subsequent quarters. Therefore, data for the most recent quarters should be considered provisional.
We continue to work with data suppliers to improve the accuracy and quality of returns following the move to the SMF Data Template. We have implemented an enhanced process of data quality checks targeted at those areas requiring the most development. We will re-assess the official statistics in development label at the end of 2026.
Key features of this approach to consider when reviewing these statistics are contained in Table 1 of the supplementary Background and Methodology Report (Opens in new window).Please note that further information on the No One Left Behind data collection and on data quality improvements is also available in the supplementary Background and Methodology Report (Opens in new window).
Contact
employabilitydata@gov.scot