Job Start Payment: evaluation

Footnotes

1. Applicants can choose to provide supporting evidence when making an application by post or through online document upload. If an applicant does not provide all the evidence required for an application, they will be contacted by a client advisor and asked to provide this.

2. However, due to the targeted nature of the support, Job Start Payment claimants are likely to represent only a small proportion of total unemployed 16-24 year olds in Scotland at any given time – meaning the benefit could only be expected to make a small contribution to the government's strategic aims on labour market participation.

3. It should be noted that, since the research for this evaluation was undertaken, the following changes have been made to the application process: (i) applicants have been given an extra 7 days to provide supporting evidence for their claims; (ii) a 14 day grace period has been introduced for job offer evidence - meaning if a client provides evidence of a job offer date which differs from the job offer date stated on the application form, this can be accepted as long as the dates are within 14 days; and, (iii) applicants who have been contacted by phone are sent a reminder letter as an additional prompt to provide evidence (whereas before letters were only sent in cases where applicants could not be contacted by phone).

4. Scottish Government, 2022: Labour Market Statistics for 16 to 24 year olds: Scotland and the United Kingdom – January to December 2021; Skills Development Scotland, 2021: COVID-19 Labour Market Insights, July 2021

5. ONS, 2021: Which groups find it hardest to find a job following a period out of work? - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)

6. Scottish Government (2019) Devolved benefits: evaluating the policy impact

7. Scottish Government (2022): National Indicator Performance | National Performance Framework

8. The Scottish Government had a moratorium on face-to-face research at this time due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

9. It should be noted that some stakeholders also commended Social Security Scotland for their efforts at raising awareness of the benefit in their organisations.

10. Scottish Government (2022) Job Start Payment: What you can spend the payment on

11. For example, 12% of processed Scottish Child Payment applications were denied to March 2022, and 29% of processed Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods applications were denied to May 2022.

12. As outlined in the introduction to this report, Job Start Payment applicants can choose to provide supporting evidence when making an application by post or through online document upload. If an applicant does not provide all the evidence required for an application, they will be contacted by a client advisor and asked to provide this.

13. Since this research was undertaken, a 14 day grace period has been introduced for job offer evidence. As such, if a client provides their evidence and the date differs from what they have provided on the application, then this can be accepted as long as the dates are within 14 days.

14. The figures in Table 2 are derived from a secondary analysis of rounded data in the Job Start Payment Official Statistics publication.

15. Note that the first quarter in Table 4 only covers the period of 17 August 2020 to 30 September 2020, and is therefore a partial quarter. This is because Job Start Payment was launched on 17 August.

16. It should be noted that application processing times may have included time spent waiting for applicants to provide supporting evidence for their claim (supporting evidence can be provided after the initial Job Start Payment application form is submitted).

17. The percentages in Table 4 were calculated by dividing the number of approved applications for each variable category by the total number of approved applications. For example, the percentage of approved applications for those who identified as women, as shown in Table 3 (47%), is calculated by dividing the number of approved applications for women (410) by the total approved applications (865).

18. Scottish Government (2018) Scottish Government Urban Rural Classification 2016.

19. Scottish Government (2020 Scottish Index Multiple Deprivation 2020.

20. The Young Persons' (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel Scheme began on 31 January 2022 in Scotland, whilst the fieldwork for this research was underway. It is therefore possible that fewer Job Start Payment recipients would now spend the payment on travel. Young Persons' Free Bus Travel Scheme | Transport Scotland

21. It should be noted that application processing times may have included time spent waiting for applicants to provide supporting evidence for their claim (supporting evidence can be provided after the initial JSP application form is submitted).

22. It should be noted that, since the research for this evaluation was undertaken, the following changes have been introduced to the application process: (i) applicants have been given an extra 7 days to provide supporting evidence for their claims; (ii) a 14 day grace period has been introduced for job offer evidence - meaning if a client provides evidence of a job offer date which differs from the job offer date stated on the application form, this can be accepted as long as the dates are within 14 days; and, (iii) applicants who have been contacted by phone are sent a reminder letter as an additional prompt to provide evidence (whereas before letters were only sent to applicants who could not be contacted by phone).