Fair Start Scotland - annual report: year one

4. Summary and Next Steps

Throughout its first year of delivery, Fair Start Scotland has not stood still. It has developed its service delivery model and its processes and provision to ensure that it is meeting the quality and service standards participants expect. Fair Start Scotland has established strong, productive partnerships with key agencies to share good practice, learning and expertise, and to offer a range of other wrap around services. As the Report shows, it is also beginning to build the trust of participants who use and rely on employability services to move closer towards and into work. 

The service has engaged with over 10,000 participants, and has seen 2,013 people move into work. Many of the people joining Fair Start Scotland have overcome a range of challenges to move into work, many of whom previously thought work was not a realistic goal for them. 

However, the Scottish Government and its delivery partners are committed to the continuous improvement of services, so that they continue to work as effectively as possible to meet the need of participants. The last year has seen a test and learn approach embedded within delivery, and a range of improvement measures have already been taken to support the delivery of Fair Start Scotland. 

The Scottish Government will continue to work with The Department for Work and Pensions and all other partners to ensure that everyone who can benefit from Fair Start Scotland has the opportunity to do so.

Going forward, and based on feedback from participants, partners and Providers, we have identified further changes to explore to continue to shape the service to best meet the needs of its participants. 

No One Left Behind

More widely, the delivery of Fair Start Scotland has been part of a commitment to deliver wider change across the employability landscape as we seek to move towards a better aligned and more person-centred approach.

Complementing this approach in March 2018, the Scottish Government launched No One Left Behind: Next Steps for Employability Support in Scotland, outlining the plan to deliver more effective and joined-up employability support across Scotland and improve employment outcomes.

Building on the principles of Fair Start Scotland, the vision for No One Left Behind is to support people furthest from the labour market into work by ensuring that the employability offer in Scotland is person-centred, flexible and responsive to the needs of individuals and employers.

The Scottish Government remain committed to ensuring this ambition is delivered in true partnership, recognising the strengths and range of providers and other national and local partners who can help us to deliver a strong and vibrant employability landscape.

The first phase of the No One Left Behind funding stream commenced in April 2019, combining Activity Agreements and SERI funding in a simpler and more flexible way. Collaboratively managed between Scottish and local Government, this funding arrangement will evolve over time to include other partners to align and integrate provision locally and nationally.

Working together with partners a new £12 million Parental Employability Support Fund will be introduced by November 2019 to help those parents who face considerable barriers returning to work with a further investment of £6 million from April 2020 to support disabled parents towards and into work and an additional £4 million to support parents accessing Early Learning and Child care places to help participants progress towards and in their current employment.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of building on existing national, regional and local partnerships to begin to form new ways of working together with the public, private and third sectors. In this way the varied experience and expertise of partners from across the employability sector as a whole will be embedded within the wider approach learning lessons from the delivery and development of Fair Start Scotland.