In this sixth edition of our newsletter, we are sharing project updates, our accessibility offers and news about some research coming up in 2023. Thank you to all of our members who have recently joined, we now have over 5,000 members for the first time. And thank you to everyone who has taken part in our research projects.
We recently sent out a survey to some panel members exploring the reasons for late benefit applications. We would like to thank the 340 panel members who responded. The survey went to members who had applied for benefits offered by Social Security Scotland. We asked about a range of life circumstances and whether they thought these were acceptable reasons for applying for benefits after the deadline had passed. Some of the reasons we looked at were client or family illness, difficulty getting supporting information and issues getting support to complete an application.
Most of the Client Panel members who took part felt that Social Security Scotland should consider accepting late benefit applications under the circumstances in the survey. We also asked respondents how late they thought applications could be submitted after the deadline. The most popular answer was one to three months after the deadline. The findings from this work are being used to improve how late applications are handled by Social Security Scotland.
The results of this survey were part of a longer report, that can be found here and a visual summary can be found here.
We interviewed Client Panel members to test some revised messages about disability application processing times. We also asked about the use of different kinds of messages, for example text messages or emails. We found clients want messages that use clear and simple language. Clients said that the language used by Social Security Scotland is ‘kinder’ and ‘more personal’. Clients are open to receiving information through a mixture of email, post and text message. Work has started with the people who write information for clients to put these findings into practice.
Previous research looked at the use of icons that could be recognised by clients. Icons are simple images that easily describe key information. Icons are currently being developed for all benefits offered by Social Security Scotland. User testing was undertaken with 18 Client Panel members. We found clients were positive about icons that could easily be associated with a specific benefit. The next phase of testing will be to understand how easily icons are understood by people who communicate in different ways.
We did research with Client Panel members about the website that has information about Social Security Scotland’s benefits. Through interviews, we asked clients’ views about information on the webpage. During the interviews, we were able to identify difficulties that users of the website may run into. An example of this is the use of technical terms that may confuse people who visit the site. Changes are currently being made to benefits webpages into reflect these findings.
We invited some Client Panel members to tell us about their experience with Social Security Scotland over the past year. We are now looking at what panel members told us. We are also looking at the results of surveys of Social Security Scotland staff and partner organisations. The results will be part of this year’s report on the Charter Measurement Framework, which will go on our website in the Autumn. This is how we show whether Social Security Scotland is delivering on the commitments of Our Charter.
Our Charter is a document that sets out what our client’s rights are, how they will be treated by people working in the social security system and how people can get help if something goes wrong.
Our Charter was written before Social Security Scotland was delivering benefits. It was written to make sure that from the very start we designed our service with clients at the centre. It was written by people who had experience of the benefits system, listening to the views of others.
Our Charter is due to be reviewed this year. This is to make sure that it continues to reflect the priorities and needs of clients and partners. We have invited all panel members to take part in a survey about our priorities for Our Charter. We are also recruiting some panel members to work with us to review Our Charter and the Charter Measurement Framework. We will keep you up to date with the review in future newsletters.
We recently looked again what support we offer to take part in interviews. We were worried that people might not realise all the different things we could do to help. So we have added a list for people to choose from:
Since we added this list we have had more requests for different kinds of support. We hope this is making taking part easier for our members. If you have any ideas about things we could do better for you, please get in touch using the contact details below.
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.
You can send us feedback and suggestions for this newsletter by using the contact details below.
We’ll contact you using the details you’ve given us. 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:
The Client Panels team do not have access to your case information and can’t give advice. You can contact a Social Security Scotland Client Advisor by: