Social Security Charter Review: research findings

2. Introduction

This report presents the output and findings from research undertaken to review the Scottish Social Security Charter, “Our Charter”, and the Charter Measurement Framework. Respectively, these are referred to as ‘the Charter’ and ‘the framework’ throughout this report.

The Charter was created in 2018 and the framework was created the following year. The Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 requires the Charter to be reviewed every five years. The review took place during 2023 and was facilitated by researchers and officials from the Scottish Government and Social Security Scotland.

A co-design approach was taken to carry out the research. Co-design brings together input from, and shares power between, policy makers, individuals and organisations who have experience and expertise on an issue. This methodology reflects the approach taken to create both the Charter and the framework.

The co-design approach to the review put people with experience of the Scottish social security system at the heart of the process. These participants were recruited from Social Security Scotland’s Client Panels and have experience of making an application or receiving a payment. The review also included input from government officials, the Scottish Commission on Social Security, staff from Social Security Scotland, and partner organisations.

The next section sets out background information about the Charter and the framework. The output of the research process, a proposed revised Charter, is set out at section four below. Section five presents an overview of the proposed changes. The remainder of the report describes the research activities with clients, staff, and partners and how their input shaped the outputs from the review.