Scotland's Devolved Employment Services: statistical summary May 2020

Introduction

This publication presents statistics on to the end of March 2020 covering the first 24 months of Fair Start Scotland (FSS), which launched in April 2018, and the 21 months of the Health and Work Support Pilot, which launched in June 2018.

The publication includes data over a period (March 2020) where the UK and Scotland were subject to public health measures tackling the COVID-19 outbreak. Over this period: 1) key referring organisations to FSS started refocusing their work towards COVID-19 response; 2) we have less complete equalities monitoring data for those who started FSS in January to March 2020^[5], and 3) the Health & Work Support pilot closed slightly early due to the redeployment of NHS staff to support NHS Tayside and NHS Fife's response to COVID-19.

What is Fair Start Scotland?

The Scottish Government launched FSS on 3 April 2018 to support 38,000 people get into sustained employment.

The service is designed to meet the needs of those who face a range of challenges in obtaining work, including people with a disability or health condition, people with convictions, care-experienced young people, single parents, refugees, ethnic minorities, and people who live in some of the most deprived areas in Scotland. More information about the service can be found here.

What is the Health & Work Support Pilot?

The Health & Work Support pilot^[6] operated in Dundee City and Fife. It aimed to streamline existing health and employability services, offering support to those in work by providing a single point of contact for those at risk of falling out of work or who are recently unemployed (up to 6 months) due to ill health. The service offered NHS delivered case management support, as well as offering specialist advice to individuals and employers.

This 2-year pilot was launched on 26 June 2018 and closed in March 2020. The pilot closed early when staff were redeployed elsewhere in NHS Fife and NHS Tayside to help the response to the COVID-19 public health pandemic. Therefore, those referred and enrolled in early 2020 may not have received the full 20 weeks of support on offer, given the early closure of the pilot.