Care Leaver Payment: consultation analysis

2 Description of the responses and respondents

2.1 This chapter provides information about the respondents and the responses to the consultation. It also provides a brief description of the engagement sessions carried out as part of the consultation process.

Respondents and responses

2.2 Altogether, the consultation received 70 responses. Of these, 56 were submitted online through the Scottish Government’s consultation hub and 14 were sent by email. Responses were received from 37 organisations and 33 individuals (see Table 2.1).

2.3 There were two main groups of organisational respondents (see Table 2.2).

• Public sector organisations comprised around half of the organisational respondents (20 out of 37, or 54%). This group included local authorities and NHS services, as well as other public bodies with remits relating to children and young people (and those with care experience, in particular).
• Third sector organisations comprised around a third of the organisational respondents (12 out of 37, or 32%). This group included organisations working with children and young people and their families and organisations providing financial education, advice or support to young people.

2.4 The remaining five organisations (14%) did not fit into either of the two main categories and are referred to throughout this report as ‘other organisation types’. A complete list of organisational respondents is shown in Annex 1.

* Includes three academic / research organisations, and two professional bodies representing social workers.

2.5 In general, responses from individuals were very brief, whereas organisational respondents often submitted lengthier responses, in some cases citing research and including lists of references. In addition, some responses submitted by organisations contained the collated views of young people with care experience in relation to some or all of the consultation questions.

Response rates for individual questions

2.6 The response rates for individual consultation questions ranged between 87% and 93% for closed questions, and between 63% and 96% for open questions.

2.7 Question 3 and Question 8 (both open questions) received the highest response rates overall – 96% of all respondents commented at these questions which asked, ‘What are your views on the revised approach proposed by the Scottish Government?’ (Q3) and ‘Do you think this payment could have any negative impact on young people leaving care?’ (Q8). Question 10 (an open question) received the lowest response rate – 63%. This question asked, ‘Is there anything else you think the Scottish Government should take into consideration related to eligibility criteria for the Care Leaver Payment?’

2.8 Response rates for individual questions varied, depending on whether the question was closed or open, and on whether the respondent was an organisation or individual. Among individuals, the response rate for all the closed questions was 100% – i.e. all the individual respondents answered all six of the closed questions – while the response rates for the open questions ranged from 58% to 97%. Among organisations, response rates ranged from 76% to 86% for closed questions, and from 68% to 95% for the open questions.

2.9 See Annex 2 for full details of the question response rates.

Participants in engagement sessions

2.10 As noted in Chapter 1, in addition to the public consultation the Scottish Government carried out six ‘engagement sessions’ which provided an opportunity to discuss and explore participants’ views on the issues addressed in the consultation.

2.11 Four of the engagement sessions were held online. Invitations to participate were sent to a range of relevant stakeholders (including local authorities, NHS health boards, third sector and national organisations) to be shared with their networks. Altogether, 55 individuals who worked in a field relevant to children and young people and / or the care sector participated in these sessions (between 11 and 16 individuals in each session).

2.12 Two further engagement sessions, both organised through the Youth Justice Voices project, were held face-to-face.^[2] One was facilitated by the group Inside Out at His Majesty's Young Offenders Institution Polmont (HMPYOI).^[3] The other was facilitated by the group Youth Just Us.^[4] Altogether, 9 young people with care experience and 6 professionals working in relevant organisations (Barnardo’s, STAF and CYCJ) participated in these sessions.