Developing the Social Security Charter: co-design process

Annex D – Details of core group workshops

Gaining knowledge

During the meetings we had a total of 12 different learning opportunities. They were led by experts and are listed here.

• An introduction to social security in Scotland and information on the content of the Act in respect of the charter.
• Information about charters and their purpose including examples of other charters from the NHS, other Social Security systems across Europe and key organisations in Scotland.
• A presentation on the meaning of co-production in the context of the work they were being asked to undertake.
• Information on the findings from Experience Panels research to set the scene and give context to our knowledge to date of people's experience of social security.
• An explanation of the seven principles from the Act. Including the actual wording of the principles, the policy intention behind the principles and some plain English descriptions.
• Work on the meaning and importance of the remaining principle; the human right to social security. This covered the five aspects of the human right to social security as defined in key human rights instruments and associated guidance, most especially the International Covenant on Social, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and UN General Comment 19 on social security ^[14]. In short these refer to adequacy, availability, accessibility, progression and non-regression. This work was interactive given by a representative of the Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) and further a recap of the points made by the SHRC to introduce a discussion session.
• Information on Inclusive Communication standards. This included the meaning of Inclusive Communication.
• An explanation of outcomes focused government and how thinking in terms of outcomes can help set out what the future should look like
• The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman explained her role and give advice on what to include in the charter
• A communications official and graphic designer helped to guide the wording of the content and the layout of the charter.

Discussions

The discussions sessions were based around research questions designed to ensure we gathered all relevant opinions and views. They were facilitated by officials who used their skills to ensure each participant's opinion was heard. Scribes took extensive notes which were pooled and analysed. The sessions, (topics listed here) were undertaken round table and included between three and seven participants.

• Existing charters and what people liked or didn't like about them
• What members thought the charter should be called
• The size and shape of the new charter, covering length, formats, tone, text and images
• The meaning and importance to participants of principle (b) social security is itself a human right and essential to the realisation of other human rights. These discussions were broken down into the five elements presented to the core group by SHRC; those being, adequacy, availability, accessibility, progression and non-regression. The group discussed what each meant to them, what was the most important thing about the principle from their point of view and how they would like to see it represented in the charter
• The meaning and importance to participants of principle (d) respect for the dignity of individuals is to be at the heart of the Scottish social security system. The group discussed what respect for dignity meant to them, what was the most important thing about this principle from their point of view and how they would like to see it represented in the charter
• The meaning and importance to participants of the remaining six principles (see Annex A). Six round table discussions were carried out, one for each principle. For each, officials asked what the principle meant to core group members, what was the most important thing about the principle from their point of view and how they would like to see it represented in the charter. These discussions lasted two sessions.
• How the core group visualised and would articulate an ideal human rights based social security system