Work First Scotland and Work Able Scotland: statistical summary August 2018

Technical Annex

Reporting period

2017, Quarters 1-4, and 2018, Quarter 1: 3 April 2017 to 29 June 2018.

Referrals to WFS and WAS stopped on 9 March 2018. All starts on WAS were recorded by 30 March 2018.

4 starts on WFS were recorded after 30 March 2018, in April 2018. The last start was recorded on 9 April 2018.

Minor revisions to previously published numbers of WFS and WAS referrals and starts are included in these statistics, because the numbers of WFS and WAS referrals and starts are derived from live databases, which are subject to amendment on an on-going basis, and are not final until all participants have exited the services and outcomes have been verified.

Work First Scotland ( WFS)

Data sources

1. The Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP) Provider Referrals and Payments ( PRaP) system

Information on those referred (‘referrals’) to WFS and outcomes relating to those referrals, including those who join WFS (‘starts’) and subsequently achieve employment outcomes (‘job outcomes’), is recorded by the DWP PRaP system. Service providers send monthly returns to DWP, containing information on outcomes for participants, including starts, as well as information relating to employment outcomes.

The Scottish Government receive monthly reports from PRaP, via DWP. The statistics in this release are based on the report generated on 29 June 2018. PRaP is a well-established system used by DWP. For additional quality assurance purposes, equivalent data as recorded by service providers on their caseload management systems is also reported to SG at regular intervals.

2. Information collected by service providers

The statistics on long-term health conditions, age, gender and ethnic group are derived from information collected by service providers. Information is collected by service providers when an individual joins WFS, including that on long-term health conditions which is required for service delivery purposes, and that on age, gender and ethnic group, which is required for equalities monitoring. Information is collected via a combination of face-to-face interview, and SG equalities monitoring forms.

To produce the statistics in this release, service providers submitted returns to SG for all people recorded on their caseload management systems as having joined WFS (‘starts’), and having achieved short and sustained job outcomes, in the period 3 April 2017 to 29 June 2018.

When an individual progresses into work, service providers record a ‘job start’ for the individual. The number of ‘job starts’ is recorded on their caseload management systems, and the figures in this publication were reported as at 29 June 2018. An individual can enter employment more than once; however the figures in this publication are for the first job recorded for an individual only. Hence the number of job starts is equal to the number of individuals who had entered employment, as at 29 June 2018.

WFS participant information is collected and presented using SG recommended questions and related output classifications.

Methodology

Referrals

The referral numbers published in this release are net figures, which exclude a small number of inappropriate referrals. Inappropriate referrals are those made for people who do not meet eligibility criteria or are not suitable for the service.

Starts

The total number of WFS starts used in the calculation of the percentage of people who joined the service reflects the outcomes of referrals during the period 3 April 2017 to 9 March 2018, which includes 4 people who had a recorded start date after 30 March 2018, as recorded by the DWP PRaP system.

The number of starts recorded by service providers on their caseload management systems differs slightly from the number of starts recorded by the DWP PRaP system. There are minor differences in these totals because they are derived from separate administrative systems.

The percentage of people who join WFS is calculated by dividing the total number of starts which have resulted from the total number of referrals made during the period 3 April 2017 to 9 March 2018, as recorded by the DWP PRaP system. Referrals which are recorded as being inappropriate are excluded from the calculation.

Employment outcomes

A ‘short’ job outcome is achieved when a participant stays in work, or is self-employed, working 16 hours per week or more, for at least 13 consecutive weeks; that is, a job which lasts at least 13 weeks.

A ‘sustained’ job outcome is achieved when a participant stays in a job, or is self-employed, working 16 hours per week or more, for at least 26 weeks out of 30; that is, continuous employment, but not necessarily in the same job, lasting 26 out of 30 weeks (breaks in employment must total no more than 4 weeks).

The start to short job outcome rate at 29 June 2018 is calculated by dividing the total number of short job outcomes achieved by the total number of starts recorded during the first 6 months of WFS (3 April to 29 September 2017). Participants who have not yet had 9 months to achieve a short job outcome (people who started on the service after 29 September 2017) are excluded from the calculation.

The start to sustained job outcome rate at 29 June 2018 is calculated by dividing the total number of sustained job outcomes achieved by the total number of starts recorded during the first 3 months of WFS (3 April to 29 June 2017). Participants who have not yet had 12 months to achieve a sustained job outcome (people who started on the service after 29 June 2017) are excluded from the calculation.

The short to sustained job outcome rate at 29 June 2018 is calculated by dividing the total number of sustained job outcomes achieved by the total number of short outcomes recorded during the first 3 months of WFS (3 April to 29 June 2017). Participants who have not yet had 12 months to achieve a sustained job outcome (people who started on the service after 29 June 2017) are excluded from the calculation.

The number of job outcomes recorded by service providers on their caseload management systems differs slightly from the number of starts recorded by the DWP PRaP system. There are minor differences in these totals because they are derived from separate administrative systems.

Work Able Scotland ( WAS)

Data sources

1. Skills Development Scotland ( SDS) Corporate Training System ( CTS)

The figures on those who join WAS (‘starts’) and achieve employment outcomes (‘job outcomes’) are derived from information recorded and maintained on CTS by service providers. CTS is an IT system which supports the administration of programmes such as WAS. The system facilitates the processing of payments to training providers and the effective recording and monitoring of individuals’ information. Data from CTS was used to provide the number of starts to WAS for this report.

2. Information collected by service providers

Referrals are reported to SDS directly by service providers.The agreed referral arrangements for WAS between DWP and SDS are based on a clerical process put in place between DWP and service providers. DWP makes referrals directly to service providers by post, using the WAS Referral form. Providers maintain records of referrals received and the outcome of those. Data integrity checks are carried out by SDS as part of monitoring activities on an on-going basis. This includes liaison with service providers in relation to any discrepancies. Final checks of totals were made prior to production of the referral figures used in this release.

Equalities monitoring information for WAS participants is collected using SDS’ equalities monitoring form, which is consistent with the form used for capturing data for the published statistics on National Training Programmes (Modern Apprenticeships and Employability Fund).

When an individual progresses into work, WAS service providers record a ‘job start’ for the individual. The number of ‘job starts’ is recorded on provider caseload management systems, and the figures in this publication were reported as at 29 June 2018. An individual can enter employment more than once; however the figures in this publication are for the first job recorded for an individual only. Hence the number of job starts is equal to the number of individuals who had entered employment, as at 29 June 2018.

Methodology

Referrals

The referral numbers published in this release are net figures, which exclude a small number of inappropriate referrals. Inappropriate referrals are those made for people who do not meet the eligibility criteria or are not suitable for the service.

Starts

The total number of WAS starts used in the calculation of the percentage of people who joined the service reflects the outcomes of referrals made between 3 April 2017 and 9 March 2018.

WAS participant information is based on the total number of people who had a recorded start date on CTS which fell within the period 3 April 2017 to 30 March 2018.

The percentage of people who join WAS is calculated by dividing the total number of starts which have resulted from the total number of referrals made during the period 3 April 2017 to 9 March 2018. This calculation uses number of referrals submitted by service providers, and number of starts recorded on CTS. Referrals which are recorded as being inappropriate are excluded from the calculation.

Employment outcomes

A ‘short’ job outcome is achieved when a participant stays in a job, or is self-employed, working 16 hours per week or more, for at least 6 consecutive weeks; that is, a job which lasts at least 6 weeks.

A ‘sustained’ job outcome is achieved when a participant stays in work, or is self-employed, working 16 hours per week or more, for at least 26 weeks out of 30; that is, the same job with continuous employment lasting 26 out of 30 weeks (breaks in employment should last longer than 4 weeks).

Information on WAS participants who achieved short job outcomes is based on the total number of people who were recorded on CTS as having achieved a short job outcome at 29 June 2018.

Experimental statistics: data being developed

Experimental Statistics are a type of official statistics that are undergoing development. They are defined in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics as: 'new official statistics undergoing evaluation that are published in order to involve users and stakeholders in their development as a means to build in quality at an early stage'.

These statistics are being released as such primarily to allow time for the devolved employment services to embed, with on-going quality assurance work being undertaken on the data concurrently. This will allow additional and more in-depth analysis to be published in due course.

User feedback will help shape the development of this statistical series and so comments on content and presentation are welcomed.