Social Security Charter Review: research findings

15. Workshop 3: A Learning System and A Better Future

The third workshop was held in August and 13 participants took part. The workshop covered two aims; firstly, to consider in detail the third and fourth sections of the Charter: A learning system and A better future. As before, participants were asked about their overall impressions of each section, how the content aligned with their priorities, and were guided by researchers to consider potential areas for change. These areas were identified based on the groups’ priorities and findings from the first phase of research.

The second aim was to review of the draft changes made to the first two sections of the Charter following discussions at the previous workshop. This allowed the research team to check they had understood the participants’ points of view and interpreted their proposed changes correctly. Getting feedback also allowed participants to identify any further changes.

The sections below outline the findings from the small group discussions. Again, Charter commitments are presented in boxes for context.

15.1 Section three: A learning system and Section four: A better future

Section three is made up of 11 commitments that will be delivered by the Scottish Government and Social Security Scotland. The descriptor line for this section is: ‘We will encourage feedback and empower people to deliver the best service possible’.

Section four is made up of 15 commitments that will be delivered by the Scottish Government. The descriptor line for this section is: ‘We will invest in the people of Scotland – making a positive difference to all our lives’.

These sections were covered together in the same discussion. These sections have less direct links to client experiences with Social Security Scotland or the application process. Overall, there were fewer comments from the group on these sections, although they did highlight areas for improvement which are described below.

Commitment 3.1: Listen, learn and improve by owning up to mistakes and valuing feedback, complaints and appeal decisions

Commitment 3.2: Encourage you to provide feedback, explain how you can complain and do everything we can to make things right

Commitment 3.3: Involve people using the service in measuring how well it works – including the commitments in Our Charter

Commitment 4.15: Develop ways of measuring how we are doing against the commitments in Our Charter

Participants built on their previous discussions about accountability and clarity around how commitments are delivered in practice. Several said they weren’t sure how to provide feedback. One group said they weren’t sure how to make a complaint. One group discussed the need for research with clients but weren’t familiar with the ongoing research carried out by Social Security Scotland, including the Client Survey, which is sent to all clients. Participants agreed it was essential for the Scottish Government and Social Security Scotland to measure how they are performing and make clients and others aware of the results. Researchers outlined the Charter Measurement Framework to participants and one suggested that a link in the Charter to the framework would be helpful. Participants said sharing information about performance “helped build that trust and transparency”.

“How will this be done? How will it be improved? How will we measure it?” Core client group participant

Commitment 3.4: Make sure staff are well trained, supported and well equipped to do their jobs

Commitment 3.5: Ensure staff understand the needs of different people and the barriers they face – so that no-one experiences discrimination because of who they are

Participants gave positive feedback about the focus on staff training. One group said it was “reassuring” to see multiple commitments related to this. One group suggested these commitments should be “at the top of the list” to reflect their importance. Some participants noted that it was difficult for clients to know how well staff had been trained, or for this to be measured in a meaningful way. These commitments again raised comments about staff qualifications which had been discussed at the second workshop.

“Make it clear that staff will be trained and well-equipped, to get that reassurance.” Core client group participant

Commitment 3.7: Build a workforce that reflects the diversity of the people of Scotland

Participants agreed that this commitment would fit better alongside other commitments about Social Security Scotland’s workforce.

Commitment 3.11: Base services in places that are accessible and welcoming for everyone

There was general uncertainty among participants about what this commitment meant in practice. Participants said it was vague and the phrasing wasn’t clear. There were suggestions to improve the clarity by focusing more on accessibility for clients rather than the accessibility of certain locations. Participants also said home visits are convenient for some clients and weren’t sure how this commitment took that into account. One participant suggested the commitment should include an example of a ‘service’ such as “your local carers centre”.

“The sentence itself doesn’t make sense, the accessibility could be whether its accessible for everybody or whether its accessible opening times, and what are ‘base services’?” Core client group participant

Commitment 4.5: Promote a positive view of social security, explaining it is a public service to be proud of – a human right there for all of us who need it

Commitment 4.6: Publicly challenge the myths and stereotypes about social security to help reduce stigma and negativity

Commitment 4.7: Change the language on social security – introducing more positive words to describe the service and the people who use it

Participants agreed they could see evidence of these commitments being delivered through the advertising of benefits for example, on TV. One participant said the Scottish Government was “putting this into action and it’s not just words”. This chimed with feedback from another group who said the Scottish Government’s approach to social security was “amazing” and were praiseworthy about the section four commitments more broadly. There was some feedback that these commitments covered similar themes and there could be scope to merge or edit.

“I think it [section four] reads really well and I applaud the Scottish Government for their aims.” Core client group participant

Commitment 4.8: Look for ways to make eligibility rules fairer and consider creating new benefits to meet people’s changing needs

Commitment 4.9: Review the payment levels of Scottish benefits every year

One group discussed the relationship between the Scottish Government and UK government and how the power to make decisions affects how these commitments are delivered.

Commitment 4.14: Allocate resources fairly and efficiently, delivering value for money in a way that puts people first

Participants were uncomfortable with the wording of this commitment and were unsure about the intention behind it. Participants said it “doesn’t sit right” and had “negative connotations”. Participants questioned the use of the terms ‘fair’ and ‘value for money’. They thought they were out of place and more likely to be used by private businesses or by firms making tenders for work. Participants asked “value for who?”

“Efficient, fair enough but ‘fairly’ is a really bad word to use in a document because everybody’s opinion of fair is different.” Core client group participant

Commitment 4.13: Work with other public services to support delivery of the National Outcomes. These define the Scottish Government’s vision for a fairer, more prosperous Scotland

There was some feedback about how this commitment related to earlier commitments about referring or telling clients about where to get help. Participants also said they weren’t sure what National Outcomes are and it would be helpful to include a link to give people more information.

“Would everybody be aware of what the National Outcomes are? I think there needs to be something which highlights what they are as I’m not sure that I know that.” Core client group participant

15.2 Reviewing draft changes to sections one and two

Broadly, participants were positive about the draft changes prepared by researchers following the second workshop. In particular, participants were positive about the structural changes. The first two sections had been restructured, with new sub-headings introduced to group related commitments together. Overall, participants welcomed the new structure as helpful and gave support for continuing this restructuring approach to incorporate the final two sections of the Charter.

There was general support for the draft changes to the content, with participants commenting that the clarity of the commitments had been improved overall and in line with their priorities. However, there were several specific areas where participants felt more clarity was needed. These are described below – draft commitments as seen by participants at workshop three are presented in boxes to provide context.

Draft commitment: Have the right knowledge and training to help you, and help you find the answers if they don’t know immediately

Draft commitment: Be recruited in a way that makes sure they care about delivering a service based on equality, respect, dignity and human rights

Draft commitment: Be trained to live up to these values. Social Security Scotland will also involve people with diverse lived experiences of social security and the organisations that represent them in this training

Participants said these commitments remained ambiguous. Several noted they would like to see more specifics about how these commitments would be delivered. There was also some confusion about staff training, with participants wondering if these commitments pointed to ongoing “refresher” instruction. There was a suggestion that recruitment should be more focussed on the type of person who delivers the service and how they are recruited. Lastly, participants also felt the responsibility to get answers should be more clearly assigned to Social Security Scotland. It was suggested that ‘help you find the answers’ should be changed to “help you get the answers”.

“Does [‘live up to’] imply there will be regular meetings with staff to look over values, and refreshed as it were?” Core client group participant

Draft commitment: Refer you to organisations independent from Social Security Scotland, including the Social Security Independent Advocacy Service, who can offer you support if you want extra help with your application or appeal. You are also entitled to ask someone that you know to support you. We will need your permission to talk to that person or service about your application.

Draft commitment: Signpost/direct you to other organisations, services or forms of help where they could provide advice to help improve your wellbeing or financial circumstances

Draft commitment: Tell you if we think you might be entitled to benefits not delivered by Social Security Scotland and how you can get information about whether you might be eligible

Participants discussed these commitments in detail. Overall, participants said more clarity was needed to understand what they meant for clients in practice. There was a question about the independence of the advocacy service and if the mention of Social Security Scotland should be removed. There was also uncertainty about whether ‘extra help’ was potentially off-putting and would discourage clients from seeking support unless they needed “lots of help”. Participants also said it would be preferable to highlight if other services or organisations were free to use or if client would need to pay to use them.

Lastly on these commitments, there was a range of opinions about the terms ‘refer’, ‘signpost’, ‘direct’ and ‘tell’. Participants thought it was important the commitments were accurate and that the language reflected the processes they described. For example, if there was a difference between what ‘refer’ and ‘signpost’ meant for clients, this should be clear. There was also some caution among participants about Social Security Scotland staff ‘telling’ clients other support was available without being certain whether the client was eligible.

“You’ve got be careful with ‘referring’ as that means they’re actively communicating with the other organisation”. Core client group participant

“‘Signpost’ has very negative connotations and it feels like they’re just trying to fob us off”. Core client group participant

“I like the word ‘signpost’, you can have a friendly signpost and a fobbing off signpost”. Core client group participant

“There’s a danger that you might falsely think you’re going to get more help than you will actually get”. Core client group participant

Draft commitment: We will work towards implementing a system to provide updates on the progress of your application and expected timelines, including being transparent when things might take a bit longer

There was mixed feedback about this draft commitment. Participants had various suggestions on changes they would like to see. They questioned what ‘work towards’ meant in practice. One suggested “we will implement” would be better. Some thought the commitment put the emphasis on the client to pursue updates but would prefer Social Security Scotland issued these automatically. There was also a preference for replacing ‘being transparent’ with more plain English such as “inform”. One participant said they thought it would be better to say “as quick as we can” when it came to progressing applications.

“I think it’s an endeavour, nothing is guaranteed and things can take longer. It’s an aim to process as quickly as possible”. Core client group participant

“We have to be more specific, more of a doing than just thinking about it”. Core client group participant

Draft commitment: Where consultations are needed, they are carried out by a Social Security Scotland health and social care practitioner with relevant experience

Draft statement: Giving us the information we need to help you. This includes working with us to gather any supporting information needed to come to the right decision

Participants were unfamiliar with who ‘health and social care practitioners’ are. Again, participants discussed staff qualifications and training and said it was unclear what was meant by ‘relevant experience’. Some thought the draft changes were an improvement but there was still a general feeling the information about supporting information could be clearer.

Draft commitment: Continue to pay you at the same level if you challenge a decision to reduce or stop your award by providing Short Term Assistance payments during this process, which does not have to be paid back

Participants were unfamiliar with ‘Short Term Assistance’ and said more information should be provided to explain the payments.

Draft commitment: Decisions are reached by a dedicated team who will review the information provided in your application, all supporting information, and consult with Social Security Scotland’s experienced health and social care practitioner team as needed. We will only request a consultation for disability benefits if we are not able to make a decision with information that is already available.

There was further feedback about more clarity on the decision-making process including who makes decisions and their qualifications and training. One participant said the phrase ‘decision making team’ should be more specific. There was a suggestion to add the word ‘qualified’ to reassure clients that staff are trained to make decisions. There was also a suggestion to include a visual element for example, a flowchart, to set out the steps of the decision-making process.

Original commitment: If you have questions along the way, we will handle your enquiries as quickly as we can

Some participants were unhappy with the phrase ‘as quickly as we can’. They felt it was “meaningless” and should “go without saying”. There was mixed feedback about how this commitment should be reworded. Some felt if a definitive timescale couldn’t be stated, the commitment should be removed.

15.3 Reflections on clarity and further information

Researchers were pleased with the overall positive feedback about the draft changes to the first two sections of the Charter. Participants confirmed that the changes reflected their previous discussions and continued their engaged detailed approach to reviewing the commitments. Overall, the need for further clarity and additional information was evident. Participants continued to emphasise accountability and what commitments mean for clients in practice. Particular areas of interest were: measuring performance; staff knowledge and training; the need for updates; and how clients are given information about other forms of support.

Participants highlighted several areas where further information could be helpful for clients. For example, they suggested phrases such as ‘National Outcomes’ and ‘Short Term Assistance’ could be explained and information about the Charter Measurement Framework, referrals, and the consultation process could be outlined. Based on this feedback, researchers developed a ‘Useful information for clients’ annex. This grouped proposals under three headings: a glossary; process outlines; and helpful links. The intention was to bring together suggestions for additional information that participants would like to see to feed back to officials, including communication colleagues, for input on how this could be provided for clients.

The findings from workshop three were used to create a full draft of proposed changes to the Charter and a list of ‘useful information’. These were circulated to participants and formed the basis for discussions at workshop four.