Minimum Income Guarantee: Experts by Experience Panel report

August 2023 top up

Of the eight new members, all had experience of financial insecurity. For six of the new members this was current financial insecurity, and for two it is in the past. Of the six experiencing current financial insecurity one expects their financial situation to improve soon whereas five expect it to continue.

Although the continuing original panel members last disclosed whether there financial insecurity was current in February 2023, and newly recruited members disclosed this in July 2023, assuming that this has not changed since the last disclosure gives a panel total of:

• 23 members experiencing current financial insecurity (eight of whom expect that to improve soon from the time at which they were asked).
• 11 members who have past experience of financial insecurity, (two of whom expect that they will face financial insecurity soon from the time at which they were asked).
• Two of the new members have disclosed experience of being in care. This gives a total of at least three members with experience of being in care.
• One new member disclosed a health condition expected to last 12 months or more. This gives a total of at least 12 members with a physical or mental health condition that will last 12 months or more.
• Three new members indicated they have caring responsibilities. This gives a total of at least 9 members who have caring responsibilities.

New panel member's political affiliation was as follows:

• Scottish National Party - 3
• Scottish Green Party - 2
• Other - 1
• Don't know / undecided - 2 This gives the total panel political affiliation as:Scottish National Party - 10

• Scottish Green Party - 4
• Scottish Labour Party - 4
• Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - 1
• Scottish Liberal Democrats - 0
• Other (not listed on our drop down) - 5
• Don't know/undecided - 8
• Prefer not to say - 2

Appendix 2: Panel member feedback

After each panel session, members were sent an anonymous survey. A few of the key indicators are presented here from across the panel sessions to give an indication of key measures across the life of the panel.

Understanding of a Minimum Income Guarantee

After each panel meeting, members have been asked to rate their subjective knowledge on a Minimum Income Guarantee from 1 to 10.

The mean score given in response to this question has been tracked over time, although there have been changes in panel make-up and responses over time and data is not therefore directly comparable.