Welcome to the Client Panels Newsletter

In this third edition of our newsletter, we share our latest research findings and tell you what’s coming up later in 2022. Thanks to all members who participated in our research.

New Reports

• Main buildings in Dundee
  & Glasgow
• Opening hours
• Working location of staff
• Web chat

News & Updates

• Client Panel membership ending
• Scottish Child Payment
• Unsuccessful applications

What’s Next?

• Child Disability Payment Research
• Charter Measurement Framework 2022
• Client Panels member feedback

New Reports

Main Buildings

During 2021, Client Panel members who live within travelling distance of our main offices in Dundee and Glasgow shared their thoughts about travelling to & entering our buildings, staff uniforms and behaviours.

The research involved a survey, which was completed by 85 Client Panel members:

• 33 who lived within travelling distance of Agnes Husband House in Dundee
• 52 who lived within travelling distance of Glasgow High Street
• Information on parking, including disabled parking was the most popular information to know before visiting Agnes Husband House. For Glasgow High Street it was information about what to expect when I arrive.
• 38 percent of respondents told us that they would like to approach a staff member when they needed help.
• 25 percent would prefer if the staff member approached them.
• 89 percent of respondents told us that the person who welcomes clients into the building should have their accessibility information.

You can read the full report here Social Security Scotland - Social Security Panels Research: Dundee and Glasgow Buildings or read the summary here Social Security Scotland - Social Security Panels Research: Buildings Summary

If you would like a paper copy sent to you please get in touch using the details in the Contact us section of this newsletter.

Opening hours

We also asked Client Panel members when they need to contact us.

• Most respondents would ‘rarely’ or ‘never’ need to contact us outside of the current opening hours of 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday.
• Some respondents did say they have an ‘occasional’ or ‘more regular’ need to contact us outside these times, such as evening and weekends. This would also help clients who work or have caring responsibilities during current hours.

We will review the findings and decide whether a change in opening hours is needed and will consider repeating this research in future to monitor your needs.

You can read the full report here Social Security Scotland - Social Security Client Panels Research: Opening Hours Report or read the summary here Social Security Scotland - Social Security Client Panels Research: Opening Hours Summary

If you would like a paper copy sent to you please get in touch using the details in the Contact us section of this newsletter.

Working location of staff

We invited Client Panel members to take part in a survey about their views on the working location of staff – including views on staff working at home or in an office.

We are grateful to the 307 Client Panel members who responded, here are a few highlights from the results:

• Most respondents said they didn’t mind where staff they might speak to are working from. But some said they would prefer staff to be in the office.
• Respondents often stated working location shouldn’t matter, as long as the client service and data security was maintained.
• Many respondents said it was important that staff are professional and helpful regardless of their working location.

You can read the full report here Social Security Scotland - Social Security Panels Research: Working Location of Staff Report or read the summary here Social Security Scotland - Social Security Client Panels Research: Working Location of Staff Summary

If you would like a paper copy sent to you please get in touch using the details in the Contact us section of this newsletter.

Social Security Scotland has now committed to a hybrid working approach in the future. This means that most staff will spend some time working in an office and some time working from home.

Web chat

Between November 2021 and January 2022, we asked our Client Panel members about their experience of using our web chat service. In total, 170 members completed the survey.

• 15 per cent of respondents said they had used the web chat service. Everyone who had used the service rated their overall experience as ‘good’ or ‘very good’.
• 47 per cent of the respondents said they had never heard of the web chat service.
• Almost all the respondents who had used the service said it was the most convenient way to contact us and told us it was ‘easy’ or ‘very easy’ to find the mygov.scot web page to start a chat.
• 30 per cent of respondents were very likely to use the web chat service in the future.

Our respondents ranked ‘An estimated waiting time to chat to an advisor’ and ‘A button to request a copy of the chat transcript’ as the top two improvements.

You can read the full report here Social Security Scotland - Social Security Client Panels research – Web chat – report or read the summary here Social Security Scotland - Social Security Client Panels research: Web chat Summary

If you would like a paper copy sent to you please get in touch using the details in the Contact us section of this newsletter.

You said – we told – they did

We found that 47 percent of our respondents had not heard of our web chat service. We told our Communications Team this and they are planning to raise more awareness of the web chat service.

News and updates

Client Panel Membership Ending

Panel membership lasts two years. We will soon be contacting the first Client Panel members who joined nearly two years ago. If you would like to sign up for another two-year membership, just return the survey from us. If you would rather leave, you don’t need to do anything and your membership will automatically expire.

Scottish Child Payment

Prior to the Scottish Child Payment increase, we conducted some research on our advertising – this helped shaped our future messaging.

Unsuccessful Applications

We spoke to people on the Client Panels who had received an unsuccessful application. Clients told us about their experience applying for the benefit and what improvements they would like to see in the decision letter. The research team is working with each benefit’s team to identify future changes to the letters to meet client needs.

What’s Next?

Child Disability Payment research

Research was carried out with the first people who applied for Child Disability Payment. We are analysing the responses now and will share our findings soon.

Charter Measurement Framework 2021-22

We are currently working on the Charter Measurement Framework 2021-22. We have spoken to clients, staff and partner organisations about their experiences with us over the past year. We are analysing the responses and will share our findings soon.

Client Panels Member Feedback

We recently sent out a survey to all of our Client Panel members about their experience of being a panel member, we would again like to thank all who responded. We will be analysing the responses soon and will publish our findings later on in the year.

If you want to leave the Client Panels

You can leave the Client Panels at any time. If you no longer want to take part, let us know by using details below in the Contact us section.

Contact us

We’ll contact you in your preferred way when we can. If you prefer we contact you in another way, let us know and we’ll update our records. To do this or to let us know of any other relevant research related information, contact us:

• Online using our contact form: www.mygov.scot/client-panels/contact-client-panel
• Freephone: 0800 029 4974
• Post: Insights Research, PO Box 10303, Dundee, DD1 9FY
• You can ask for phone line language interpretation by calling 0800 029 4974. If you’re a British Sign Language (BSL) user, you can contact us by going to contactscotland-bsl.org. If you’re a text phone user, you can call us using the 18001 prefix.

Questions about your benefits

The Client Panels team do not have access to your case information and can’t give advice. You can contact us by:

• web chat: chat.socialsecurity.gov.scot/
• Freephone: 0800 182 2222 (8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday).
• If you're a British Sign Language user, you can use the contactSCOTLAND app to
  contact Social Security Scotland by video relay.
• or post: Social Security Scotland, General Enquiries, PO Box 10301,
  Dundee, DD1 9FY