Social Security Charter Review: research findings

8. Phase one findings: Focus groups with Social Security Scotland staff

This section describes the findings from the focus groups with staff held in May. A summary of the findings and how they were used in the second phase of research is described in section 12.

8.1 Familiarity with Our Charter

There were varied levels of familiarity with the Charter among participants. In general, those most familiar with the Charter had worked for Social Security Scotland the longest and had roles with close connection to it. For example, these participants were involved in communicating with clients, setting up new processes and staff training. Most remembered taking part in training about the Charter when they first started at Social Security Scotland. However, there were several participants who said they had not heard of Our Charter until they were invited to take part in the research.

“For those of us who are client facing we need to keep it [the Charter] in our minds when talking to clients and colleagues…treating people with fairness and respect.” Staff focus group participant

8.2 Positive impact

Participants said Our Charter made it clear what can be expected from Social Security Scotland as an organisation. Participants said the Charter sets values and expectations for the organisation and gives focus to the values of dignity, fairness and respect. There was general agreement that the values in the Charter were “ingrained in the business”. Some said that although individual staff may not refer to the Charter “every day” it was “background noise” which informed the day to day work of Social Security Scotland. Some said the Charter provided a benchmark of standards across the agency that ensures the service provided to clients remains consistent. In this regard, participants said the Charter was a “golden ideal”.

“It’s maybe not spoken about explicitly all the time in that Our Charter says this Our Charter says that. But the ethos, the dignity, fairness and respect, is spoken about frequently and I think the Charter gives an elaboration on those three words.” Staff focus group participant

In general, participants said the Charter has a strong influence on organisational culture. They said it promotes responsibility, accountability, openness and honesty, friendliness and inclusivity. Participants thought the Charter helped maintain a focus on values and how Social Security Scotland sets out to deliver services.

“[The Charter is] a mission statement, it’s our main aim as a company…gives us a framework for what we’re looking to achieve.” Staff focus group participant

“It should create expectations that stakeholder organisations hold us accountable for. I think it’s quite important that there are expectations of the Charter because it creates accountability as well.” Staff focus group participant

Most participants thought the Charter was positive for clients. Many said the Charter did a good job of setting out clients’ rights and what they could expect from Social Security Scotland. Participants said the Charter promoted flexibility to meet client preferences and needs, including a focus on inclusive communication. One participant said the Charter empowers clients and staff by emphasising that Social Security Scotland is open to feedback and wants to improve.

“[Social Security Scotland wants] clients to have confidence in us that we’re doing best we can for them. That’s what I like about the Charter.” Staff focus group participant

Participants thought the Charter set a high standard for staff behaviour. One group said the Charter had promoted change within colleagues’ mindsets regarding inclusivity. For example, in relation to issues of identity, sexuality, and gender. This was seen as important, as some participants said organisational culture could become diluted over time as the organisation grows. Participants also said the principles in the Charter provided staff with a foundation to raise feedback and stimulate change. For example, participants said the Charter was a solid grounding for committees and groups within Social Security Scotland and the Scottish Government who advocate for staff for example, the Disabled Staff Network.

“It reminds people to be thoughtful and mindful of other people’s feelings.” Staff focus group participant

“Since joining agency just over year ago, we are really pushing out message of treating clients with kindness, and I feel the same in my area. Also good emphasis on seeing colleagues as individuals, taking into account their situation with kindness and flexibility.” Staff focus group participant

8.3 Delivering the Charter commitments

Some participants said the Charter was “aspirational” and commitments had not yet been fully implemented by Social Security Scotland.

“I think it’s aspirational, I wouldn’t necessarily say that we get it right with everything that’s in it yet. I think there are still some parts of it that are aspirational or what the organisation hopes to achieve, but they are still building towards fully achieving them.” Staff focus group participant

Participants highlighted a number of areas where they felt Social Security Scotland was not living up to the standards set out in the Charter. Many felt delivery of the Charter was let down by poor processes, a lack of training and support for staff, and by not utilising learning. Participants said there were gaps and inconsistencies in processes which meant some Charter commitments weren’t being delivered. There was a concern that the pace of design and initial delivery had led to later problems and delays. Participants said that this had limited the ability to meet aspirations.

“We’ve had to come up with minimal viable product which hasn’t necessarily delivered on our initial aspirations.” Staff focus group participant

“If we had put proper…processes and time compliance in from the beginning, linked to the Charter, do you think and agree fundamentally it would have been different in terms of efficiencies and delivering processes? Might have taken a bit longer. What’s more important, getting the money to people as quickly as possible, or taking longer, getting flack, and being more efficient in the long term?” Staff focus group participant

Participants gave of examples of problems with specific processes and systems. On delivering client rights, one participant said although the Charter mentions ‘referral’ for clients, this process had not been developed. Others mentioned barriers to meeting client preferences such as, a lack of face-to-face appointments, forms being difficult to read, and long waiting times on the phone. One participant highlighted a lack of communications co-ordination. Problems had arisen when clients are told information through social media that client advisers are not aware of and who then have to support clients who are unhappy. Several participants felt not enough was being done to seek feedback, address issues, and improve processes in the agency.

“I don’t have a referral process, I’ve only got a signposting process.” Staff focus group participant

“I think there are a couple of areas where we don’t do very well… I think we like to think we learn. But we capture lessons learned but we don’t always see changes on the back of that.” Staff focus group participant

Many participants felt that the Charter is only influential to workplace culture if it’s read and acted upon, which some felt was not the case. Client-facing staff particularly felt it was not being acted upon by staff in more senior positions. Participants also said staff sometimes did not have the support, skills and training required to do their jobs. For example, one participant said they had waited a long time to get equipment which limited their ability to complete actions with clients, leading to return appointments. Some said the Charter should take a more holistic approach that takes into account both staff and clients simultaneously for the better of both.

“One point in Our Charter is about making sure staff have training and skills to do their jobs. But that isn’t happening. Example is staff being moved into [benefit team] without training and months later still no training…and new staff not mixed in with more experienced advisers.” Staff focus group participant

“Agency does better with clients than staff...but without us you don’t have the happy client. We need to be happy too for the clients. For them to get best experience. We fall short with that part.” Staff focus group participant

“Issues with kit when we first went out to clients and took a long time to explain...I only just got new camera last week...So a long time involved in issues that knew would create more work down the line.” Staff focus group participant

Some participants thought Social Security Scotland did well to deliver the Charter commitments. Some highlighted that the agency has gone through a significant amount of change, and feedback had shown clients are generally happy with the service.

“We go above and beyond to help people in as little time as possible.” Staff focus group participant

“What others saying is absolutely correct...We don’t have systems that are helpful and 100% ready. But what we do see often is when we get to the conclusion of processes, suggests that the Charter and experiences are landing with clients, and experience of getting through to decisions is positive.” Staff focus group participant

8.4 Improvements

Most participants called for better communication of the Charter and what it means for clients and staff. Most groups said that Our Charter could be better utilised and better linked to day-to-day work. Several groups agreed on a need for ‘refresher’ courses or less formal but regular inclusion of Charter principles in ongoing learning and development events. Various groups said it would be helpful for the Charter to be embedded more often in conversations with line management and in team and organisation-wide meetings. Participants also said that it should be shared with all staff where the organisation is falling short on Charter commitments.

“You have to explain to people why they should be interested in the Charter or why whatever you are asking them to do relates back to our obligations and our commitments to the people of Scotland.” Staff focus group participant

“…if we aren’t achieving those organisational objectives should feed down to all of us to improve and aim to get those objectives.” Staff focus group participant

Participants felt there should be greater emphasis on how clients can help Social Security Scotland to deliver quicker processing of applications and more accurate outcomes. One participant said it was important that clients provided information when their circumstances change. The majority of comments were related to the role of supporting information in benefit applications, particularly for disability benefits. There was a sense that clients had an inaccurate perception about the role of supporting evidence. One group had an extended discussion about concerns that clients are not aware enough of their responsibilities in regards to providing evidence. The group said this led to problems such as longer processing times and inaccurate decisions.

“I don’t know if there’s a way to make clients more aware of their responsibilities, when it comes to claiming. Don’t know if it’s a Charter thing. Most common thing coming up is people not telling us anything: if they’ve moved, change of circumstances etc.” Staff focus group participant

“Definitely needs to be something that makes it clearer what we expect of client, about what we need to make it work faster and better. Straightforward for everybody. Clearer from beginning.” Staff focus group participant

Where clients had existing evidence such as a GP letter, participants said some clients had not included it in their initial applications because of previous advice to hold onto evidence and only submit it during redeterminations. It was felt this was based on experiences with the DWP and advice given by some partner organisations. Participants said it was important to find an effective balance in information about supporting information which took into account both trust and the requirement for evidence.

“But I don’t think we’re putting it across that … it’s a two way street. We should be more impressing upon them that they need to give us information so we can work in their interests.” Staff focus group participant

“I couldn’t count the amount of re-determinations where if the [evidence] provided had been given immediately it would have saved a re-determination and [been] processed quickly.” Staff focus group participant

One participant was wary of aspirational commitments which did not give clear information on the role of supporting information. The participants said it was better for clients if the Charter aligned with how Social Security Scotland works in practice.

“We constantly see problems where people decline to provide appropriate information because they’re told they don’t have to…And then from clinical perspective we usually find less than what is claimed, and then that leads to a re-determination...in the first place we should have taken on board feedback [about designing Our Charter] then really looked at practicalities, rather than just taking on board everything about how it would work in a perfect world.” Staff focus group participant

8.5 Format of the Charter

Overall, staff participants were very positive about the content and format of the Charter. Participants said it was clear and liked that it is available in different formats. One participant said some of the language should be updated to reflect that Social Security Scotland has been established for several years and was “no longer at the launch point”. Some participants said it should be updated to reflect how Social Security Scotland works. A few felt it was too long whilst others felt some of the Charter commitments were vague and could be more detailed. For example, there were some suggestions for improvements to make it clearer how commitments are delivered in practice.

“For the learning systems section, my question is Who? Who is going to listen, encourage us to provide feedback? Who is going to encourage staff to speak up? Who is going to value our feedback?” Staff focus group participant

There was overall agreement that inclusive communication was important. Some participants were concerned that if the Charter was more detailed this would make it longer and potentially less easy to read and understand. Participants also said it was important to take into account different communication needs and use effective strategies to help clients engage with the Charter information. One participant said the Charter could better emphasise key messages by using more visual elements.

“There is an easy read form and a British Sign Language form, I like those things. I still think it’s a bit wordy. I think we could look at the inclusive communication aspects of the publication.” Staff focus group participant

‘‘I think we could communicate them [headlines] more clearly. We could use more of the icons more generally across our materials.” Staff focus group participant

8.6 Feedback about the review

One group noted the review was well-timed, given the introduction of new benefits and adjustments following the Covid-19 pandemic. Some said it was important to provide stakeholders involved in the research with information to help make sure ideas for changes were realistic. Others said it was important to consider how processing times could affect feedback from clients. Staff participants also said the research should aim to be representative and inclusive of seldom-heard client groups and reflect various communication needs.

“It’s important that the research is truly representative of seldom heard groups, or groups who experience communication disadvantage.” Staff focus group participant

In terms of what the review should cover, some thought it was important to explore whether the principles in the Charter continued to reflect priorities and needs. Some suggested asking about key issues that clients were unhappy with and where Social Security Scotland could improve. One group mentioned confusion among clients about eligibility and thought this would be good to explore with clients. Some participants said it would be worthwhile to ask clients about communication more broadly as they felt Social Security Scotland could improve in this area.

“Is this still the right charter, is this still the right way of doing things?” Staff focus group participant

“What are we underdelivering on?” Staff focus group participant