Scottish Government People's Panel 2026-27 Event 3: The Cost of Living

Annex B: People’s Panel Event 3 overview

Participation in the session

The third meeting of the Scottish Government People’s Panel took place on 4 June 2026 and was attended by 35 of the 40 People’s Panel members, for all or part of the day. Five participants were unable to attend for the full day.

The People’s Panel sample is designed to reflect an overall target demographic profile in line with the population of Scotland, for key characteristics. When some participants are unable to attend specific meetings, this affects the balance of the demographic profile of the participants for that meeting.

Overall, the demographic profile of the attendees at the third People’s Panel event aligned closely with the target demographic coverage based on the 2022 Scottish Census findings. However, the following groups were slightly under-represented: White Scottish participants; people who live in rural areas; people aged 25-34. Conversely, the following groups were slightly over-represented: people aged 35-44; people with no disabilities; and people who are retired.

However, even with full participation of the 40 selected participants, some divergence from the targets would have remained – particularly for education, where the full People’s Panel sample is slightly over-representative of people with higher-level qualifications. In addition, given the small total sample size, it is unlikely to be possible to meet all targets exactly, and even minor shifts in participant numbers can have impacts on the overall balance.

Discussion topics and questions

Before the meeting, the People’s Panel research team worked closely with policy and analytical colleagues working on relevant topics across Government to agree the discussion aims and develop a set of themes and questions to guide the discussion. Facilitators and note-takers were provided with guidance and training in advance of the session.

Before the meeting, participants were provided with a short written briefing on the discussion topic: the cost of living. In the meeting, the discussion topics were introduced with a short presentation and Q&A session.

The session involved:

• three small-group discussion sessions, each around 45 minutes long;
• six small groups of 6-7 participants;
• an experienced facilitator and note-taker for each group; and
• observers from relevant research or policy teams in some groups.

Group membership was changed after the first discussion session to ensure that participants would have the chance to meet and share views with a wide range of other participants. All groups explored the same set of questions, with facilitators given flexibility to follow the discussion where relevant.

Following the three group discussions, all the participants came together in a final plenary session to share and discuss the findings from each of the groups.

Table 1: Discussion questions for the small group sessions

Research Topic / Questions

Personal experiences and main concerns

Question 1: Does it feel like the costs of everyday life are becoming harder to manage?

Question 2: Thinking about the effects of rising costs on your household or community, what are you particularly concerned about at the moment?

Question 3: Looking ahead, do you have concerns about how rising costs may affect your household or your community, over the longer term? (e.g The rest of the year and into winter.)

Behaviours and trade-offs

Question 4a: Have you made any changes to your daily life or routines in response to rising costs? Thinking about things like shopping, activities or how you travel?

Question 4b. Thinking specifically about travel, are the rising costs of fuel having any impact on your decisions about travel?

Question 5: Do you expect to make any changes to your daily life or routines (things like shopping, energy use, activities, travel) over the rest of the year and into the winter?

Health and wellbeing

Question 6: Have rising costs had an impact on your health and wellbeing? How?

Wider impacts

Question 7: Have you noticed any changes in your community because of rising costs?

Awareness of support

Question 8: Are you aware of any support to help people or businesses deal with the rising cost of living?

Question 9: What role – if any – do less formal types of support play for you to help with rising costs. So thinking about your family, neighbours, friends, or your community?

Government response – Energy

Question 10a: How big a part do energy bills play in any concerns that you have about the cost of living? Are you and your family able to meet your energy needs within your household budget?

Question 10b: Have you changed/do you plan to change your behaviour as a result of the recent news about increased energy prices and the change to the energy price cap?

Policy proposals: Social tariff for energy costs

Panel members were introduced to the idea of a ‘social tariff’ for energy bills, and given key information including: potential eligibility criteria; that this is a proposal for the UK government because the Scottish Government does not decide energy pricing policy; and that the proposal would be funded through general taxation. They were then asked:

Question 11: What is your initial reaction to this idea?

Question 12: If this was introduced, do you think this would make a difference to you, or people you know?

Question 13: Do you think it feels fair?

Question 14: Do you think there could be any risks or unintended consequences?

Policy proposals: Food price caps

Panel members were introduced to the idea that the Scottish Government is considering introducing measures to place limits on the price of a defined range of food items. They were then asked:

Question 15: What is your first reaction to the idea of putting a limit on the price of some essential foods?

Question 16: If this were introduced, what would make it feel genuinely helpful for you, your household or people you know?

Question 17: How would you feel if this idea came with some downsides or changes elsewhere?

Question 18: How, if at all, do you think this would change the way you shop or the food you buy?

Closing Question

Question 19: Is there anything else you think the Scottish Government should be doing to respond to the rising cost of living?

Participant feedback

After each Scottish Government People’s Panel event, panel members are invited to complete an online survey to provide feedback on their experience. Twenty-two of the 35 panel members who attended the event completed the survey for the third People’s Panel meeting.

Overall experience of the day was positive, with 90% of the members who filled in the post-event survey (n=22) saying they had an excellent or very good experience.

Members were positive about their experience of support before the event including information provided in advance and communications about the project.

On the day, the presentation and group discussions on the cost of living were well received, with members agreeing that the presentation was clear and easy to follow and the group discu ssions were interesting and relevant. Confidence was less strong around understanding how the Scottish Government will report the findings to ministers and officials.

Overall, participants reported high levels of comfort while participating in the event, particularly in relation to using technology and participating in the smaller group discussions. During the event the membership of the small groups was changed between the first and second discussion sessions. Most participants were comfortable with this, though a small minority expressed some discomfort, suggesting this approach worked well overall but not for everyone.

Reflecting the feedback from Events 1 and 2, members’ views continued to be mixed on whether the People’s Panel would influence decisions in the Scottish Government.