Scottish social security system - seldom-heard groups: research

Appendix D: Strategies to enable take-up

Strategies for addressing psychological barriers to claiming benefits

• Change messaging around claiming from punitive and derogatory to positive, supportive and inclusive.
• Provide thoughtful and culturally adapted messaging to avoid stigmatising already marginalised groups.
• Provide culturally adapted support that is aware of community specific barriers and community specific needs.

Examples in practice:

Social Security Scotland’s advertisement and promotion of Adult Disability Payment (ADP) included representation of a range of disabilities and their lived experience, which was found to encourage application for the benefit and promoted positive perceptions of ADP. The report also noted that participants suggested further promotion of ADP in this way.^[41]

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s ‘Talking About Poverty’ toolkit is being used by organisations to frame communications around benefits to emphasise, for example, that like the NHS and schools, the welfare system is a public service that plays a vital role in reducing poverty^[119].

As communities have different ways of talking and thinking about money, messaging around benefits is more effective when tailored to these communities^[50]; for example, it was raised that the ‘You’ve Earned It’ campaign, while largely successful, risked stigmatising those who were not able to participate in the labour market^[109]. Age Scotland’s ‘Money Matters’ campaign, which tailored advice for older people, was successful in helping older people to access their benefit entitlements and reduced confusion and stigma surrounding accessing benefits^[109].

Strategies for addressing learning barriers to claiming benefits

• Increase data sharing between agencies for a joined-up approach enabling data-led targeting and targeted campaigns delivered by and through local authorities.
• Collect data on seldom-heard groups to understand extent of marginalisation.
• Identify and respond to ‘pressure points’ where complexity increases the risk of errors by increasing staff training and awareness.
• Ensure benefit agency staff have knowledge of both UK and Scottish benefits.
• Drive awareness at all points of contact (including family and friends, healthcare settings) and take messages to people where people are.
• Raise – and maintain - awareness through long-running public campaigns.
• Target awareness raising through trusted organisations.
• Identify and counter misconceptions and ‘fake news’.
• Use carefully considered language to describe eligibility (e.g., disabled people don’t always consider themselves to be disabled; young carers may not identify as carers).

Examples in practice:

Automatic enrolment is being used in the Five Family Payments (Scottish Child Payment, Best Start Grant Pregnancy and Baby Payment, Best Start Grant Early Learning Payment, Best Start Grant School Age Payment, and Best Start Foods). Receipt of the Scottish Child Payment enables automatic checks for eligibility for Best Start Grant Early Learning Payment and Best Start Grant School Age Payment^[39]. The Five Family Payments have also been noted as a good example of signposting upon application^[68].

The “Tell Us Once” bereavement service uses communication between council services, HMRC, and DWP to streamline the reporting of a death to the government^[80]. This idea is also being discussed in relation to benefits applications, with the proposal to create a system where one claim would automatically trigger entitlements to a range of benefits and support, for example for those with terminal illness^[19,28]. This system has been implemented already in the Highland Council, who have a single application form for 11 council administered benefits, with the council recommending that this be implemented at a national level^[19,28].

Evidence submitted to the Scottish Parliament’s Committee on Benefit Take-Up suggested the use of data sharing to enable targeting eligible households for benefit applications and awards, for example for data on received benefits to be shared with local authorities to trigger the awarding of other benefits with similar eligibility criteria^[19]. For example, Glasgow Council use Council Tax Reduction and Housing Benefit information to automatically award the school clothing grant.

The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) has developed an Early Warning System which collates case studies to demonstrate the impact of changes in the social security system to identify issues early on^[120]. The system allows welfare rights advisers to submit enquiries or case studies to CPAG which demonstrate problems or areas of concern. CPAG also reviews their internal projects to identify problems in the social security system. The Early Warning System has identified some issues with the digitalisation of the benefits system and that this has made benefits inaccessible to certain populations who do not have access to digital devices. CPAG also found that the design of the digital system has led to people being left without money they are entitled to because the online applications do not accurately identify their need and this has made it more difficult to challenge these errors^[76].

Home Care support has been identified as a useful indicator of eligibility for Attendance Allowance, with an estimated 14,500 of Home Care support recipients thought to be eligible for Attendance Allowance^[34]. Inclusion Scotland has suggested that Local Authorities could target older Home Care recipients in take-up campaigns to increase take-up of Attendance Allowance^[34].

The introduction of financial inclusion referral pathways in various health boards has helped many families access benefits. For example, the Healthier Wealthier Children project in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has implemented a referral pathway from maternity and community health service practitioners to money and welfare rights advice services. This referral pathway involves healthcare workers asking patients during various points of contact if they are experiencing any financial difficulty, and if so, referring them to relevant services^[86,121]. A similar pathway has been set up in GP services in Lothian and Dundee^[86]. An evaluation of the Healthier Wealthier Children referral programme indicated that uptake of the money and welfare rights advice services ranged from 45% in the mainstream project to 91% in a targeted pilot within the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, demonstrating the effectiveness of referrals at targeted points of contact^[85]. A similar scheme was set up in the Deep End Advice Worker project in the east end of Glasgow, with an advice worker stationed in two GP practices which served particularly deprived areas of Glasgow. An evaluation of this project found that 85% of those referred to the money advice service had never previously accessed this service, and there was a 65% engagement rate with the service once referred. The median amount of financial gain for successful applicants was £6,967 p.a. per person^[87].

The Maximise! Family Advice and Support Service, based in schools across Edinburgh, embeds welfare and family support staff in schools. Maximise! supports families experiencing health, social and financial problems and, by doing so, increase children and young people’s educational attainment. Parents and carers are offered a range of support services, including money and welfare advice and employability services. A recent impact analysis of Maximise! found the service was successful in increasing the incomes of nearly 400 parents^[81].

Strategies for addressing compliance barriers to claiming benefits

• Simplify application processes and reduce complexity by aggregating benefits – automatic passporting or automatic entitlement
• Reduce need for complex array of support (e.g., discretionary funds, crisis loans, social tariffs) by increasing sufficiency of benefits and extending the eligibility criteria
• Offer a range of application modes
• Provide frontline staff with training on better understanding barriers faced by, and circumstances of, seldom-heard groups

Examples in practice:

Automatic enrolment is being used in the Five Family Payments (Scottish Child Payment, Best Start Grant Pregnancy and Baby Payment, Best Start Grant Early Learning Payment, Best Start Grant School Age Payment, and Best Start Foods), such that receipt of the Scottish Child Payment enables automatic checks for eligibility for Best Start Grant Early Learning Payment and Best Start Grant School Age Payment^[39]. The Five Family Payments have also been noted as a good example of signposting upon application^[68].

The implementation of a fast-track access route to benefits for terminally ill people enables people at the end of life to access benefits quickly. In response to a DWP evaluation of end-of-life experiences of accessing benefits and campaigns from other organisations such as Marie Curie, the Special Rules for Terminal Illness, which previously specified that to qualify for fast-tracking, individuals had to have a terminal diagnosis of 6 months, have been extended to 12 months^[32]. This will ensure that people in their final year of life will receive financial support quickly.