Scotland's Devolved Employment Services: statistical summary February 2023

Main Points

• There were 4,416 referrals to Fair Start Scotland (FSS) in the most recent quarter (October – December 2022). This is 2% higher than the previous quarter and 10% higher than the same quarter in 2021. There were 2,947 starts on FSS in the most recent quarter, 3% higher than the previous quarter and 9% higher than the same quarter in 2021.
• Overall, there have been 80,992 referrals and 54,030 starts to FSS since its launch in April 2018. The number of starts includes 3,899 re-joins to the service which has been possible since April 2021.
• There were 1,082 job starts this quarter, 10% lower than the previous quarter and 1% lower than the same quarter in 2021. Overall, there has been 18,819 job starts since FSS launched.
• For those where enough time has passed in both pre-employment support and to measure job outcomes; 37% started a job, 27% have sustained employment for 3 months, 22% have sustained employment for 6 months and 17% have sustained for 12 months.
• Experimental statistics for No One Left Behind show a total of 29,279 people started receiving support from April 2019 to September 2022. The number of people starting support has increased each year; 2,569 in year 1, 5,208 in year 2 and 14,024 in year 3. In the most recent quarter (July – September 2022) 3,754 people started to receive support.