Scotland’s devolved employment services

An Experimental Statistics Publication for Scotland

Scotland’s Chief Statistician today published the second in a new series of experimental statistics about Scotland’s Devolved Employment Services. The second edition published statistics for the first nine months of Work First Scotland and Work Able Scotland, which both launched in April 2017.

Information on those referred to (‘referrals’) and subsequently joining the services (‘starts’) is presented. This release additionally provides a breakdown of referrals and starts by quarter.

Main findings 

• Overall, a total of 4,554 people joined Work First Scotland and Work Able Scotland, as a result of 7,448 referrals made to the services during the period 3 April to 29 December 2017.
• 4,472 of these people had a recorded start date on the services which fell within the same period, 3 April to 29 December 2017.

Work First Scotland

• A total of 3,620 people joined Work First Scotland, as a result of 5,652 referrals made to the service during the period 3 April to 29 December 2017. This means 64% of those referred subsequently chose to participate.
• 3,545 of these people had a recorded start date on the service which fell within the same period, 3 April to 29 December 2017.

Work Able Scotland

• A total of 934 people joined Work Able Scotland, as a result of 1,796 referrals made to the service during the period 3 April to 29 December 2017. This means 52% of those referred subsequently chose to participate.
• 927 of these people had a recorded start date on the service which fell within the same period, 3 April to 29 December 2017.

Notes for News Editors

This is an Experimental Statistics publication. Experimental Statistics are a type of official statistics that are undergoing development. They are defined in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics as: 'new official statistics undergoing evaluation that are published in order to involve users and stakeholders in their development as a means to build in quality at an early stage'.

These statistics are being released as such primarily to allow time for the devolved employment services to embed and hence sufficient volumes of data to accumulate, with on-going quality assurance work being undertaken concurrently. This will allow additional and more in-depth analysis to be published in due course.

User feedback will help shape the development of this statistical series and so comments on content and presentation are welcomed.  

Data sources and methodology

Methodology

The overall number of people joining the services reflects the outcomes of referrals received during the period 3 April to 29 December 2017, which includes 82 people who had a recorded start date after 29 September 2017.

Data sources

Work First Scotland (WFS)

Numbers of referrals and starts to WFS reported through the DWP Provider Referrals and Payments (PRaP) system.

Work Able Scotland (WAS)

Number of referrals to WAS reported by service providers, via clerical referrals made by DWP. Number of starts recorded on SDS’ Corporate Training System (CTS).

Please see the Technical Annex of the main publication for further details on data sources and methodology.

The full Experimental Statistics publication can be accessed.