Social Security Experience Panels: agency opening hours
Panel members' views on the opening times and contact preferences for Social Security Scotland.
About the research
This report details the results of the Agency Opening Hours survey which took place between 1 - 15 June 2018. The research was carried out through an online survey. The survey was also available in a paper format for participants who had expressed a preference for this method, or could be completed over the phone. The majority of participants chose to complete the survey online.
Demographics
Participants were recruited from the Scottish Government Experience Panels (2,456 people). All Panel members were invited to take part in the Agency Opening Hours survey, and 436 panel members took part. This was an 18 per cent response rate.
This information from the Agency Opening Hours survey was added to previous Experience Panel information from 'About Your Benefits and You' (Scottish Government, 2007) as part of the longitudinal dataset for this project. This let us find out about the age and gender of people who took part in the survey.
Participants were not required to provide contact details in the Agency Opening Hours survey. As such, it was possible to provide information on gender for 78 per cent of the 436 participants. The figure in tables 1-3 include demographic data of only those participants whose records could be matched.
Table 1: Age and gender of participants[1] (n=341)
| Man or Boy | Women or Girl | |
|---|---|---|
| 16 - 24 | <1% | 0% |
| 25 - 44 | 4% | 13% |
| 45 - 59 | 19% | 33% |
| 60 - 79 | 11% | 17% |
| 80 or over | 0% | <1% |
Most participants who completed the survey had a long term health condition or a disability:
Table 2: Participants with a disability (n=344)
| % | |
|---|---|
| Disabled | 87% |
| Not Disabled | 13% |
A high number of participants were also carers for an adult or child friend, relative or partner:
Table 3: Participants who care for someone else (n=335)
| % | |
|---|---|
| Carer | 53% |
| Not Carer | 47% |
More detailed demographic information on the Experience Panels as a whole can be found online[2],[3].
The Social Security Experience Panels are not a representative sample of the population. As such, we cannot make assumptions as to the wider applicability of these findings and they may not reflect the views of social security clients in general. The findings of this survey should be taken as reflective only of the group surveyed.
Contact
Email: James Miller
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