Information relating to recruitment campaigns: FOI release

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002

FOI Reference: FOI/202200328998
Date received: 7 November 2022
Date responded: 5 December 2022

Request

You asked for information about recent campaigns for Client Advisors, Client Managers and Team Managers at Social Security Scotland:

1. What, if any, plans are in place for recruitment for remainder of the year in regards to the above roles?
2. 2022-23 there is a plan to employ 3500 more than across the board, will the above roles be included within this?
3. How many people do you have on the reserve list? In each above title.
4. How do you prioritise equality and diversity fairly?

Response

Social Security Scotland’s financial year runs from 1 April in any year until 31 March in the following year. Your request was made during the 2022-23 financial year which runs until 31 March 2023. We have interpreted your request to relate to our plans in the current financial year and future financial years.

1. We have no plans for any new recruitment campaigns for Client Advisor, Client Manager or Team Manager positions for the remainder of the 2022-23 financial year.

2. Our workforce plans are reviewed regularly and are subject to policy and service design decisions, client needs and a range of external factors that could impact demand for Scottish benefits.

Workforce planning is reflective of the total workforce including Client Advisors, Client Managers and Team Managers. Social Security Scotland regularly publishes workforce statistics, and the most recent publication is available here:

https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/reporting/publications/social-security-scotland-workforce-information-june-2022

We forecast that we will need more than 3,500 staff to support ongoing delivery once all planned benefits are introduced and cases have transferred from the Department for Work and Pensions to the new Scottish system.

3. Please find reserve list details below for our most recent Client Advisor, Client Manager and Team Manager campaigns:

Civil Service recruitment rules allow a reserve list to be created where a recruitment exercise identifies more appointable candidates than there are available vacancies. This may be used for up to 12 months to fill the same role, or other similar roles with closely matching essential criteria.

4. Social Security Scotland run recruitment processes based on fair and open competition. All candidates who are successful at interview are placed in a merit list based on their performance. The list is used by Social Security Scotland to make job offers to candidates in merit order.

We undertake activity and engagement to encourage applications from diverse candidates and complete Equality Impact Assessments (EQIAs) to assess the structure of our recruitment process. All of our recruitment processes are fully compliant with the Civil Service Recruitment Principles, which you can find here:

https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recruitment/recruitment-principles/

Further information around our Equality Strategy can be found on our website here:

https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/about/strategies-and-plans/equality-outcomes

About FOI

Social Security Scotland is committed to publishing responses to requests. The Scottish Government also publishes responses to requests. You can view the responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.