Scotland's Devolved Employment Services: No One Left Behind Statistical Summary May 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 December 2025.
About this publication
This is the 34th 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 December 2025. The format of this edition has been changed to bring together reach and progression statistics presented by different population characteristics to make it easier for users to understand the full participant journey.
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
- Data on ethnicity by sex is reported in this publication for the first time as part of plans to release more intersectional breakdowns.
Table 1: Specific data quality issues in this publication
|
Description |
Mitigation |
|
Perth and Kinross are experiencing significant quality issues at this time. As a result, their most recent data submission may not be the most accurate reflection of their data. Numbers related to Perth and Kinross, especially numbers related to progression outcomes, should therefore be interpreted with caution. |
This matter has been treated as a high priority, and we are working closely with Perth and Kinross to ensure the highest possible quality of data returns going forward, with ongoing monitoring in place.
|
|
Some Local Authorities (for example, Dumfries and Galloway and South Lanarkshire) 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. 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 continuously 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.
|
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) as is further information on the No One Left Behind data collection and data quality improvements.
No One Left Behind
Introduction
No One Left Behind is a strategy for placing people at the centre of the design and delivery of employability services.
Since April 2019, a range of Scottish Government funding has been made available to Local Government partners as the scope of delivery under No One Left Behind expanded over time. This includes:
- all-age employability funding for the initial phase of No One Left Behind (April 2019),
- the Parental Employability Support Fund (February 2020),
- the Young Person’s Guarantee (November 2020) and
- additional £5 million provided for Specialist Employability Support (April 2025).
Since February 2022, the statistics in this publication have included people supported by the totality of these funds. The funding aims to provide support for people of all ages, with a range of differing characteristics and circumstances, including parents, who need help on their journey towards work. Note that the statistics in this publication relate only to the Scottish Government funded activity listed above and do not report on the entirety of employability related activity in each Local Authority area that are funded by other sources.
Shared Measurement Framework (SMF)
The first SMF publication was released in April 2022 and subsequently updated in December 2022 to reflect work undertaken with partners during the summer of 2022 to agree and finalise the new data template to be used for collection of No One Left Behind employability statistics.
The initial data recommendations built on existing data collection practices and activity in place between Local and Scottish Government, formalising key data items collected around the ‘progression’ theme. The new data collection template is further aligned with the ‘reach’ and ‘progression’ themes of the SMF and the data published in this report reflects this.
The SMF is not a final product and the No One Left Behind Strategic Plan (2024-2027) sets out the intention to work collectively to further refine the framework and improve its ease of use and ensure a clearer focus on the wider impact of our support.