Social Security Experience Panels: legacy report

1. Introduction

1.1 Background

The Social Security Experience Panels was a programme of longitudinal research which ran from 2017 to 2024. The panels were established in Scotland in 2017 in anticipation of the devolution of additional social security powers to the Scottish Government in 2018. These additional powers represented an opportunity to do things differently and to deliver benefits in a more positive and supportive way, which recognises social security as a human right.

The Scottish Government also recognises that people have the right to be involved in decisions that affect them and that this participation in turn leads to better decisions. Accordingly, the aim of the Experience Panels was to ensure that people with lived experience of the previous UK benefits system had direct input into the design of the new Scottish social security system.

“We are clear that public sector services should be designed with, not for, the people who will use them.” Programme for Government 2017-18

The Experience Panels sat within the Community Analysis Division of the Tackling Child Poverty and Social Justice Directorate and reported to the Ministers and Cabinet Secretary responsible for social security throughout its duration.

Over the six years of the programme, more than 2,400 people joined the panels. Panel members were invited to participate in research relevant to them, which included interviews, focus groups, workshops and surveys. Panel members contributed to the research about specific benefits previously delivered by the UK Government, as well as some new ones. They have also been involved in a range of cross cutting projects contributing to the design of Social Security Scotland, policy and processes.

Since the Experience Panels were launched:

• More than 70 surveys have been conducted, gathering over 14,000 responses.
• More than 1000 panel members have taken part in interviews and focus groups.
• More than 100 reports and visual summaries have been published.

Now that all devolved benefits have been or will shortly be transferred over to Social Security Scotland, the original purpose of the panels to help design and deliver the new benefits has been achieved. The end of the panels was marked by an online farewell event, where panel members were thanked for their contributions and panel members shared their recollections of their time on the panel. The Experience Panels closed at the end of March 2024.

1.2 Report aim

This report signifies the end of the Experience Panels. The overarching aim of the report is to document and understand the impact of the Experience Panels across the areas of policy, Social Security Scotland and social research within the Scottish Government.

The report does this through following the journeys that research findings from Experience Panels work have taken, from data collection through to policy and operational decisions. In doing so, it draws on publications, interviews with the users of the research, and a feedback survey with panel members.

The report also aims to support future panels and participatory research within the Scottish Government and further afield through presenting the learnings and reflections gained during the course of this research.

1.3 Structure of the report

The report is structured as follows:

• Background to the Experience Panels covering organisational aspects such as panel membership and data management.
• The impact of the Experience Panels across the areas of policy, Social Security Scotland and research.
• Findings from a final feedback survey conducted with Experience Panels members on their time on the panels.
• Reflections and learnings from the Experience Panels that emerged during the research for this report.

1.4 Methodology

Between November 2023 and March 2024, the Experience Panels team collected and analysed data on the impact of the programme and this report presents the findings of that work.

The findings are based on an evidence review of relevant literature, including Experience Panels research publications, policy position papers, impact assessments and grey and academic literature. As well as the evidence review, interviews were conducted with social researchers in the Scottish Government, policy teams and Social Security Scotland staff. A feedback survey was also sent to all Experience Panels members to understand their overall experiences and opinions.

The survey data has been analysed by Scottish Government researchers. It is important to note that the results presented in this report only represent the views of panel members who took part in the research. Assumptions cannot be drawn on the wider applicability of these findings to panel members as a whole or for those with experience of the social security system in general. The findings from the survey are presented in Section 4 and a copy of the survey is available at Annex B.

Demographic information for the Experience Panel members who took part in the feedback survey is not available. Demographic information on the Experience Panels can be found in the report Social Security Experience Panels: who is in the panels.

A purposive sampling approach was used for interviews. Researchers, policy and Social Security Scotland colleagues who were anticipated to have some insight into how Experience Panels research was used were contacted and asked to participate. The interviews aimed to gather knowledge of how Experience Panels research was used in decision making. Analysis of the data was conducted by Scottish Government researchers, and the findings are presented in Sections 3 and 5.

In total, 25 interviews were conducted and the feedback survey was completed by 206 Experience Panels members.

Throughout this report, some terms are abbreviated for readability.

• Experience Panel members are referred to as ‘panel members’.
• Respondents to the Experience Panels feedback survey are referred to as ‘feedback survey respondents’ or ‘survey respondents’.