Work First Scotland and Work Able Scotland: statistical summary December 2017
This experimental statistics release is the first in a new series about Scotland’s devolved employment services.
Work First Scotland Statistics
On 3 April 2017, referrals to Work First Scotland ( WFS), a devolved disability employment support service, began. It is one of two transitional services put in place before the introduction of Fair Start Scotland in April 2018.
Work First Scotland is a voluntary service, tailored to meet individual need. It focuses on helping participants achieve their full potential and move towards becoming independent. It also seeks to help support employers who employ disabled people participating in the service.
A total of 2,901 people joined Work First Scotland, as a result of 4,433 referrals made to the service during the period 3 April to 29 September 2017. This means 65% of those referred subsequently chose to participate. [3]
2,760 of these people had a recorded start date on the service which fell within the same period.
Work First Scotland Participants
Work First Scotland participant information in this section is only about people who had a recorded start date between 3 April and 29 September 2017, and is derived directly from data collected by WFS service providers. Totals in this section (2,764) therefore differ very slightly from those recorded by the DWP PRaP system (2,760), and from the total number of people who joined as a result of the referrals made during the same period (2,901), because they also exclude those who had a recorded start date after 29 September 2017. Please see the Technical Annex for more details.
The statistics on type of long-term health condition are derived from information collected by service providers for service delivery purposes, whilst those on age, gender and ethnic group are derived from information collected for equalities monitoring purposes. All information is self-reported.
Table 1: Work First Scotland participants by age and gender, 3 April to 29 September 2017
| Table 1: WFS participants by age and gender, 3 April to 29 September 2017 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age Group | Female | Male | Unknown | % by age group | Total |
| 16-24 | 152 | 286 | 2 | 15.9 | 440 |
| 25-34 | 188 | 402 | 1 | 21.4 | 591 |
| 35-49 | 308 | 576 | 9 | 32.3 | 893 |
| 50-64 | 287 | 529 | 5 | 29.7 | 821 |
| Unknown | 9 | 10 | 0.7 | 19 | |
| % by gender | 34.2 | 65.2 | 0.6 | 100 | |
| Total | 944 | 1 , 803 | 17 | 2 , 764 | |
Table 1 shows that almost two thirds (62%) of those joining the service were aged 35 or over, and the distribution of age groups is very similar for both males and females. 16% of participants overall were aged between 16 and 24. Females accounted for just over a third of all those joining the service.
Table 2: Work First Scotland participants by type of long-term health condition, 3 April to 29 September 2017
| Table 2: WFS participants by type of long-term health condition, 3 April to 29 September 2017 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Type of long-term health condition | Number of all types of condition reported | % of all types of condition reported |
| Mental health condition | 1,176 | 31.1 |
| Long-term illness, disease or condition | 673 | 17.8 |
| Physical disability | 655 | 17.3 |
| Other condition | 450 | 11.9 |
| Learning difficulty (for example, dyslexia) | 359 | 9.5 |
| Deafness or partial hearing loss | 136 | 3.6 |
| Blindness or partial sight loss | 116 | 3.1 |
| Learning disability (for example, Down's Syndrome) | 107 | 2.8 |
| Developmental disorder (for example, Autism Spectrum Disorder or Asperger's Syndrome) | 105 | 2.8 |
| Total | 3,777 [5] | 100 [6] |
Table 2 shows that just over 30% of all types of condition reported by those joining WFS were mental health conditions. Long-term illnesses, diseases or conditons accounted for around 18% of all types of condition reported, whilst just over 17% were physical disabilities. A learning difficulty accounted for nearly 10% of all types of conditions reported.
Table 3: Work First Scotland participants by number of types of long-term health conditions, 3 April to 29 September 2017
| Table 3: WFS participants by number of types of long-term health condition, 3 April to 29 September 2017 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Number of type of long-term health conditions | Number of WFS participants | % of WFS participants |
| 1 | 1,947 | 70.4 |
| 2 | 632 | 22.9 |
| 3 or more | 177 | 6.4 |
| Unknown | 8 | 0.3 |
| Total | 2 , 764 | 100 |
Table 3 shows that whilst over two thirds (70%) of participants reported having one long-term health condition, over 29% were recorded as having 2 or more conditions.
Table 4: Work First Scotland participants by ethnic group, 3 April to 29 September 2017
| Table 4: WFS Participants by ethnic group, 3 April to 29 September 2017 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Ethnic group | Number of WFS participants | % of WFS participants |
| White | 2,547 | 92.1 |
| Non-White | 85 | 3.1 |
| Unknown | 132 | 4.8 |
| Total | 2 , 764 | 100 |
Table 4 shows that just over 3% of participants reported that they were from a non-white ethnic group.
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