Fair Start Scotland: evaluation report 4 - year 3 overview

2. Introduction

2.1 Purpose

This is the fourth evaluation report published by the Scottish Government (SG) on Fair Start Scotland (FSS). This report presents an overview of research relating to the third year of service delivery (April 2020 - March 2021).

The report aims to answer the following questions:

• Who engaged with FSS?
• How well did the process of referral and service delivery work in Year 3?
• What has been participants' experience of the support they received?
• How well has FSS embodied its values and principles?
• Has FSS helped participants to move towards work?
• Does FSS represent value for money?
• How well has FSS achieved its main goals over the first three years of delivery?

It aims to do this by presenting an overview of findings from a variety of data sources, including:

• Three local area case studies in Motherwell, Fife and Greenock undertaken by independent contractors Rocket Science UK Ltd and Blake Stevenson. The case studies take an in-depth look at the local delivery of FSS via those who participated in the service as well as those who were involved in providing it. This includes FSS service providers, local and national stakeholders, and FSS participants. Individual^[2] participant stories are included throughout the report.
• A telephone survey of 1,027 FSS participants undertaken by independent contractor IFF Research Ltd. Participants were a mix of those who had started in the third year of FSS service, and follow up interviews with those who joined in the first and second years of delivery.^[3]
• Analysis of FSS service provider Management Information data on the demographics and background characteristics of the FSS participants who joined in the third year of delivery. In addition analysis was also conducted on a dataset which contains details of the types of employment participants moved into, where relevant.
• An online survey of 349 participants who left FSS early.^[4]
• 19 interviews conducted with FSS participants across Scotland by SG researchers. Participant interviewees were selected on the basis of having certain demographic characteristics known to be associated with either lower levels of engagement with FSS or poorer outcomes.
  
• Survey of FSS providers on FSS participants employment outcomes.
  
• An independent economic evaluation of FSS conducted by Alma Economics which determined value for money through the use of a social cost benefit analysis model and other value for money measures, as well as exploring the wider social impact of the service.

Further information about the evaluation methods used to gather the findings reported here can be found in Appendix 1.

Full details of the findings from the local area case studies, the participant telephone survey and the economic evaluation are published in three separate reports on the Scottish Government website, alongside this overview report.

2.2 Background

Fair Start Scotland is Scotland's first fully devolved employment support service. Employability powers were devolved through the Scotland Act 2016 and first exercised through the one year transitional services Work First Scotland and Work Able Scotland. The learning from those services and the overriding principles of dignity and respect were taken forward in FSS.

On 4 October 2017 the then Minister for Business, Fair Work and Skills, Jamie Hepburn MSP, announced the award of contracts up to £96 million to deliver FSS, with provision to be delivered by a mixed economy of public, private and third sector suppliers, in nine contract areas (Lots) across Scotland. In July 2020, Mr Hepburn announced the extension of service delivery for a further two years to March 2023. See Appendix 2 for more detailed information on the FSS service providers and contract areas.

Fair Start Scotland originally launched on 3 April 2018, with the aim of supporting 38,000 people over three years. The key focus for FSS is to provide tailored and personalised support to all those who take part.

Key elements of the service are:

• Participation is entirely voluntary
• All participants can expect to receive in-depth action planning to ensure the support they receive is tailored for them and suits their individual needs and circumstances
• The service offers pre-work support of 12-18 months
• The service offers in-work support for up to 12 months
• Those who require specialist support to help them find work can expect to receive it
• There are national standards to ensure everyone receives a consistent quality of support across the nine geographic contract areas

The service delivery model is based on evidence of what works in employability support and was developed in consultation with delivery partners, employability providers and the Scottish public.

Scottish Ministers have committed to a "test and learn" approach to the long term development and continuous improvement of devolved employability services and both the FSS service design and evaluation reflect this approach. The FSS evaluation plan will report annually on the process, outcomes and impact of service delivery, capturing the experiences of all those involved in FSS delivery and participation.

The first FSS evaluation report was published in June 2019, and covered implementation and early delivery in the first six months of services (to September 2018). The second evaluation report was published in November 2019, and covered the first full year of delivery (April 2018 – March 2019). The third evaluation report was published in November 2020 and covered the second full year of delivery (April 2019 – March 2020).

The key findings from the first three reports show evidence that:

• FSS is reaching participants with a range of different personal, social and economic characteristics, though there was room for improving reach, especially with regards to women, young people, and those from minority ethnic groups
• Most participants were referred by Jobcentre Plus (JCP) staff, though there was some evidence of an increase in third party referrals^[5]
• Co-location of FSS services with existing employability or support organisations was an effective way to reach the wider community, and the development of strong relationships with delivery partners is crucial
• There was some feeling from providers that other outcomes apart from sustained job outcomes of more than 16 hours should be recognized
• Participants in FSS reported that they recognised the benefits of the support, and felt treated with dignity and respect

This year's report is the final report which will cover aspects of service delivery, participant experience and outcomes. Phase 3 of the evaluation, which will cover long term outcomes and an impact evaluation, will be published by the end of 2022 at the earliest. For further information on the overall FSS evaluation plan, see Appendix 3.

It should be noted that this year's evaluation report includes analysis by participant group for the first time (see Chapter 9). For performance management purposes, the service groups participants into three categories: Core, Advanced, and Intense. The outcome payments associated with each category are designed to provide an incentive for providers to activity engage with those who need more intensive support, by making a higher payment available for their successful sustainment of a 13, 26 and 52 week job outcome. In this way, the Scottish Government sought to avoid the "creaming" and "parking" identified in evaluations of other employability programmes.

The characteristics of each group are defined in the table below.

2.3 The context in which Year 3 happened

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the UK entered a period of deep uncertainty which affected all areas of life including the labour market. While last year's evaluation only covered the start of the pandemic, this year's report covers a time period when the impacts of COVID-19 were deeply established and resulted in significant changes to service delivery and the experience of participants on the service. This year's report will therefore incorporate findings on how providers, SG and participants adapted to the delivery of and participation in FSS whilst in the midst of an unprecedented global health crisis.

It should be noted that due to COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdown, certain elements of planned fieldwork were unable to go ahead this year, as was the case last year. This included some of the planned fieldwork for the research contractors, namely focus groups with Jobcentre Plus (JCP) staff and employers. In addition, the interviews with FSS participants were conducted over the phone and not face-to-face as originally planned.