Social Security Scotland recruitment process: FOI release

Information requested

You asked for any notes and/or briefings and/or correspondence) from the Scottish Government and SSS on any recruitment challenges faced by SSS or reliance on DWP in the last 2 years.

Following clarification you confirmed you are looking for the following information:
Any difficulties hiring staff or any difficulties during the recruitment process whether that be qualified enough personal, enough applications, enough interest or a delay in recruiting for certain and/or any positions or likewise.

Social Security Scotland has been in the pipeline post the devolution of certain benefits from the UK Government, my query is seeking to find if Social Security Scotland had to rely on DWP staff to fill positions or to help them get set up as an organisation. If the timeline may be more suitable to look at since April 2018 as that is when the Social Security Bill.

Response

There are no briefings or correspondence from the Scottish Government or Social Security Scotland which have been sent to the UK Government outlining any recruitment challenges or a reliance on the Department of Work and Pensions to assist with setting up Social Security Scotland, or with Social Security Scotland being established as an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government in September 2018.  Social Security Scotland has recruited for a number of posts, advertising and recruiting both externally and via Other Government Departments. A number of staff from DWP may have applied and been successful either externally or through Other
Government Departments, all recruitment has been undertaken through Open and Fair recruitment. Social Security Scotland has not requested any additional employees from other U.K. Government Departments to assist with the establishment of the Agency.

Further information on our recruitment and resourcing can be found in our charter on our website at socialsecurity.gov.scot

When considering on the location(s) of our offices in Dundee and Glasgow the Scottish Government undertook comprehensive analysis, part of the analysis process was to understand the ability to recruit so that we could understand any challenges we may face in recruitment, a detailed copy of the analysis can be found here https://www.gov.scot/publications/central-functions-social-security-agency-location-analysis-phase-1-phase/

 

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.