Scotland's Devolved Employment Services: statistical summary February 2023

No One Left Behind (Experimental Statistics)

Introduction

No One Left Behind is a strategy for placing people at the centre of the design and delivery of employability services. The transition to this new approach, delivered through a partnership agreement between Scottish and Local Government, commenced on 1 April 2019.

The No One Left Behind approach moves away from funding and delivering a number of separate and distinct employability programmes, to a more flexible approach. Scottish and Local Government are working with third and private sector to deliver support which aims to be more joined-up and responsive to the needs of individuals of all ages and to local labour market conditions.

Since April 2019, a range of Scottish Government funding has been made available to Local Government partners as the scope of delivery under No One Left Behind expands over time. This includes funding for the initial phase of No One Left Behind (April 2019), the Parental Employability Support Fund (February 2020) and the Young Person's Guarantee (November 2020). Since February 2022, the experimental statistics in this publication have included people supported by the totality of these funds. The funding aims to provide support for people of all ages, with a range of differing characteristics and circumstances, including parents, who need help on their journey towards work.

Note that the experimental statistics in this publication relate only to Scottish Government funded activity and do not report on the entirety of employability related activity in each local authority area.

The support provided may vary from short, focused interventions or longer term support, dependent upon individual circumstances. Participants can access the support they require on an ongoing basis and can engage and disengage at times that best suit their needs. Individuals can self-refer to No One Left Behind support, or be referred through a variety of channels, including educational providers, local authorities, third sector organisations, Jobcentre Plus, and other local services.

From October 2022 onwards, a new data template (Access the new data template - Publications | Employability in Scotland) co-designed with Local Authorities and aligned to the Shared Measurement Framework will be in place and over time the statistics in this report will reflect this new information. Some Local Authorities opted to transition to the new template for data covering this latest quarter, therefore the statistics covered in this report come from a mixture of the old and new template. Only information available through both templates is presented in this publication. It should be noted that while this transition takes place, numbers may fluctuate more than usual but we will work closely with Local Authorities to ensure returns are accurate and of high quality.

Reach of services: How many people accessed employability support delivered under No One Left Behind?

A total of 29,279 people started receiving support from April 2019 to September 2022. The number of people starting to receive support has increased over time; 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. Please note there was a decrease in the year 1 total from previous publications as this was previously derived from year 1 aggregate data that was collected during that period, see Background Information for more details.

Most people were aged under 25, 19,838 (68%). Of these, 14,047 (71%) were aged 15-19 and 5,791 (29%) were aged 20-24. Of all participants, 9,320 (32%) were aged 25 or over. Of these, a similar proportion were aged 25-34 (37%) and 35-49 (41%), while only 22% were aged 50 or over. Age was unknown for less than 0.5% of participants.

Figure 11 below shows participation has increased for both the under 25 and 25 and over age groups over time with peak participation seen in January – March 2022. The latest quarter shows 2,256 participants under 25 and 1,474 participants aged 25 and over accessed support. It should be noted that the large increase in participation seen between January and March 2021 coincides with the introduction of additional funding to support young people.

Gender

Of the 29,279 people who started to receive support between April 2019 and September 2022, 43% were female and 55% male. Gender was unknown for 3% of participants. The proportion of females increased from 40% in year 1 to 43% in each of the subsequent years to date. The highest proportion of female participants receiving support in a single quarter was 48% (October – December 2020). There are marked gender differences by age. The youngest (15-19) and oldest (50+) age groups have the lowest proportion of females at 37% and 36% respectively, however for the 25-34 (57%) and 35-49 (60%) age groups, the gender difference reverses and females account for the highest proportion of participants.

Ethnicity

Overall, ethnic minority groups have accounted for 9% of participants since April 2019. The proportion of minority ethnic participants has varied across years with the highest proportion (13%) in year 2 and the lowest (3%) in year 1. In the most recent quarter (July – September 2022), the proportion was 9%. However, there were age differences; with a higher proportion of minority ethnic participants in the 25 and over group (15%) compared with those under 25 (6%). These figures should be used with caution as some percentages are based on very small numbers.

Disability

Overall, 14% of participants accessing support reported having a disability. See Background Information for disability definition. Unlike that observed with gender and ethnicity, there is little variation between younger (under 25; 14%) and older (25 and over; 15%) age groups. The proportion of participants reporting a disability has been fairly consistent with the exception of a marked decrease across year 2 to 11% before increasing to 14% in year 3. The proportion increased to 17% in year 4 so far, with the highest proportion of participants to date at 19% in the latest quarter (July – September 2022). Year 2 covered the first pandemic year which may be a factor for the change observed in year 2. These figures should be used with caution as some percentages are based on very small numbers.

Parents

Please note that parents are a subgroup of participants supported during the period April 2020 to September 2022 (from year two onwards). The number of parents is not additional to the number of under 25s and those aged 25 and over but are distributed across age groups, with 17% being aged under 25 and 83% aged 25 and over.

Of the 26,710 people who started to receive support from year 2, 5,944 (22%) were parents. The number of parents has generally increased reaching a high of 1,101 parents in January - March 2022. There were 913 parents in the most recent quarter.

Parents as a proportion of all people starting to receive support has fluctuated over the period reaching a peak of 27% in the period October - December 2020. While this has fluctuated and dropped to 19% in July - September 2021, it has gradually increased since, reaching 24% in the most recent quarter.

Age

The majority of parents are aged 35-49 years (43%), and this has been consistent over the reporting period. The proportion of parents is lowest for the youngest (15-19 year olds, 3%) and oldest (50 and over, 7%) age groups.

Gender

The gender difference is reversed and more pronounced in the parent subgroup (74% female) than all participants (43% female). Females have accounted for a significantly higher proportion of parents across the period; however, the proportion of male parents accessing support has generally increased over time, accounting for 19% of parents receiving support in April - June 2020, increasing to 28% in the latest quarter, the highest proportion observed to date.

Ethnicity

16% of parents accessing support were from minority ethnic groups. The proportion fell to a low of 10% in October - December 2020 but steadily increased to a high of 19% in January - March 2022 and remains similar at 18% in the latest quarter.

Disability

Overall, 13% of parents reported having a disability. The proportion of parents reporting a disability has remained fairly stable over years 2 and 3 with increases during year 4 so far, peaking at 18% in the most recent quarter.

Overall, 62% of parents supported were lone parents and 12% of parents were mothers under 25, while 39% had one child, 31% had two children and 24% had three or more children, with number of children unknown in 6% of cases. Whilst there has been some variation across the period the pattern is broadly similar; parents with one child represent the greatest proportion of all parents in each period.

12% of all parents had a youngest child aged under 12 months. This proportion increased from 9% in year 2 to 13% in year 3 before falling to 11% in year 4 so far.

11% of all parents had a disabled child within their family, with status unknown in 13% of cases. The proportion of parents with a disabled child within the family has steadily increased between years; year 2 (8%), year 3 (11%) and year 4 so far (13%) whilst the unknowns have remained at 13%.

Progression of participants: What are the achievements of those supported by No One Left Behind so far?

Of the 29,279 people supported under the No One Left Behind approach between April 2019 and September 2022, 9,530 people (33%) entered employment. Of those that entered employment; 4,284 people (45%) were supported by a subsidy to do so and 1,178 people (12%) started modern apprenticeships. Additionally, 4,048 people supported (14%) entered further or higher education or training (includes some people that were in school), 2,982 people (10%) gained a qualification and 1,286 people (4%) started work experience opportunities.

Please note, the following statistics on parents are from year 2 (April 2020) onwards. Of the 5,944 parents supported under the No One Left Behind approach, 1,304 people (22%) started employment. Of those that started employment; 255 people (20%) were supported by a subsidy to do so and 30 people (2%) started modern apprenticeships. Additionally, 400 people supported (7%) entered further or higher education or training (includes some people that were in school), 749 people (13%) gained a qualification and 102 people (2%) started work experience opportunities.

Shared Measurement Framework (SMF)

The first SMF publication was released in April 2022 and an update was released in December 2022 to reflect work undertaken with Local Authorities during the summer of 2022 to agree and finalise a new data template further aligned to the SMF (Employability Shared Measurement Framework – opens in a new window).

The initial data recommendations built on existing data collection practice and activity that was in place between Local and Scottish government, formalising key data items collected around the 'progression' theme and the experimental statistics in this report reflect this. From October 2022 data onwards, all Local Authorities will return data using the new Shared Measurement Framework Data reporting template which is further aligned with the 'reach' and 'progression' themes of the SMF. The data published in this report will evolve to reflect this in the future.

The flexible, person-centred support No One Left Behind seeks to put in place acknowledges that participants may experience support differently, based on their individual circumstances and needs – for example, being able to disengage and re-engage in support as required. As a result, participant journeys will differ in nature and pace, and progression and achievements will vary based on what a positive outcome means to that individual. This means broadening our understanding of success from a focus on job outcomes to focus on the actual steps taken and progress made towards work.

The SMF publication is not a final product and more work is required to develop certain areas and themes. They will be particularly important to help us understand the journeys and achievements of those who are furthest away from the labour market and to develop the range of data that we publish.

We first published statistics on the achievements of those supported by No One Left Behind in February 2021 for year 1 participants, derived from the aggregate data that was collected during that period. Since then we have developed year 1 data and combined it with data collected quarterly for subsequent periods, which has allowed us to provide more detailed information for year 1 participants, including their achievements. It should be noted that the flexibility of the No One Left Behind approach allows people to come in and out of support as often as is needed, so the time between the initial start date and that to achieve certain progression outcomes can vary considerably.