Additional communication needs and alternative formats - user research summary

Pictured on slide Social Security Scotland's logo with strapline 'dignity, fairness, respect'.
Cartoon image of three people representing some of Social Security Scotland's clients, a young woman and older man and a woman holding a laptop and wearing dark glasses. Pictures inside a lilac circle background.
Additional communication needs and alternative formats. User research summary May 2025.
Contact us: userresearchrecruitment@socialsecurity.gov.scot.

Purpose. Why this research project? To listen to the experiences of people with additional communication needs, to feedback our findings to our organisation, to improve Social Security Scotland services.
Since Social Security Scotland was set up we've worked hard to design services with users at their heart. People who have additional communication needs or use alternative communication formats are a key group we wanted to know more about. Many people in these groups are already clients or may be eligible for our benefits. It's important that we hear their experiences so we can feedback to the organisation and improve our service.
Lilac box on right hand of slide calls out alternative letter formats provided by Social Security Scotland, which are large print, easy read audio and Braille.

Who we spoke with. Image of speech bubbles. One to one interviews with client panel members and people who signed up through third sector organisations, including one focus group.
Images on slide include logos of a variety of third sector organisations who supported the research, including Glasgow Disability Alliance, Visibility Scotland, Inclusion Scotland, SAMH, Deaf Action, Stroke Association and many more.
Images to right of slide also include pink and lilac circles, which breakdown the percentage of participants with different conditions. These are 64% of participants had multiple conditions.
45% had mental health conditions.
45% had physical or mobility conditions.
36% had visual impairments, 26% had a learning disability, 24% were neurodiverse.
24% had a hearing impairment and 5% had a cognitive impairment. In total, there were 52 participants.

Digital, non digital and complex communication needs.
Different channels support different communication needs. We see this when clients make an application or communicate with us about a service in different ways. In our research, we found that there are three broad groups of people with different communication needs.
#1 cartoon image of woman holding a laptop. People who want to use digital communications and want more digital options from our service.
#2 cartoon image of older man wearing glasses. Those who need non digital communications and accessible formats with some additional support from us
#3 cartoon image of younger woman giving a thumbs up. People who have complex communication needs who require a higher level of support when communicating with services.

Technology as a communication tool.
People with additional communication needs are resourceful at finding ways around communication barriers. Some people are confident with digital technology. They use apps, assistive technology and AI to help them communicate.
Or some use tools such as hearing aids, magnifiers and coloured screen overlays to access communications.
These tools are important and valued by people with additional communication needs. Services must also improve the accessibility of their communications
so that service users do not have to work so hard to access information.
Support from friends, family or organisations to access services. People need communications to work both for themselves and for the people who support them accessing services.
We must consider people's support networks when we send out information and contact clients. Clients need to get information which is accessible to them, so we do not exclude them from information about their benefits. Some clients do not have support and need accessible ways to get information independently.

Finding out about alternative communication formats. On top left of slide there are two blue boxes which say:
There are mixed levels of awareness about what alternative communication formats Social Security Scotland can offer clients.
Many people who use an alternative format or who might benefit from one are not clear about what we currently provide.
On top right of slide, there are two speech bubbles with participant quotes.
"I wasn't aware that you have all these options, especially large print and audio, and also the easy read."
"My case was transferred from DWP to Adult Disability Payment. I would have preferred a phone call first before you sent me anything as you don't know what I need."
Barriers to awareness and understanding of alternative communication formats. People taking part in the research told us that we do not provide enough information about what each alternative format means. For example, for our large print option, it is not clear what font size we will send letters in.
Many people do not understand the meaning of easy read and audio.
People who use Braille need more information about whether our Braille option is grade 1 or grade 2 Braille.
Transferred from the Department for Work and Pensions DWP.
Clients who have transferred to us have not applied for a benefit through our processes. We need to improve how we share information about formats with them. We can do this on web pages.

Barriers to communication with Social Security Scotland. Alternative communication formats do not always meet what clients need.
On the left of slide, there's a speech bubble with a participant quote saying "I'd prefer to get information digitally as my uni gave me different software and it's more accessible and can read it out. I have a tool that reads it out as audio."
Printed letters are not accessible for some, especially those with visual impairment, which creates dependency on others.
More people would like digital communications as they work well when properly designed for accessibility.
Some people need other options, such as differently coloured paper for printed letters.
Calling us by phone is not accessible for everyone.
Phone systems can be challenging or impossible for people with hearing impairments, speech difficulties, neurodivergence or mental health conditions.
Many people have had to repeatedly explain their needs due to preferences not being recorded or respected. Some people need other ways of contacting us, for example by web chat or in person, but these options are not widely publicised and sometimes do not meet people's needs.

Choice and flexibility are key for people with additional communication needs. That choice should include options to opt out of communication methods that are not accessible for some people.
Speech bubble on right hand side of slide with a participant quote saying "the option of different formats. There are so many different disabilities and nothing works for everyone. It can't all be perfect, but there are options and we can work together"
We must approach communication needs with flexibility. We need to give clients choice and make sure they can opt out of communication methods which are not accessible to them.
People need ways to tell us about their communication needs beyond tick box options, as there are some clients with more complex needs, clients need to feel trust that when they do tell us about their communication needs, we will record and respect these. We need to make more improvements so that our communications are accessible for all users, including people with additional communication needs.

Pictured on slide Social Security Scotland logo with strapline ‘dignity, fairness and respect.’
Thank you for taking part in this research project. Your contributions have been invaluable to improving our service at Social Security Scotland.
For any further information, please contact userresearchrecruitment@socialsecurity.gov.scot