The sex and grades of staff employed by Social Security Scotland: FOI release

FOI Reference: FOI/202500479171
Date received: 7 August 2025
Date responded: 4 September 2025

Information requested

Request for information 1: I want the numbers of the following: How many B2 roles are there in Social Security Scotland? How many B2 roles are Male? How many B2 roles are Female? How many B2 roles are other?

Request for information 2: And How many B3 roles are there in Social Security Scotland? How many B3 roles are Male? How many B3 roles are Female? How many B3 roles are other?

Request for information 3: And How many C1 roles are there in Social Security Scotland? How many C1 roles are Male? How many C1 roles are Female? How many C1 roles are other?

Request for information 4: And How many C2 roles are there in Social Security Scotland? How many C2 roles are Male? How many C2 roles are Female? How many C2 roles are other?

Request for information 5: And How many C3 roles are there in Social Security Scotland? How many C3 roles are Male? How many C3 roles are Female? How many C3 roles are other?

Response

Request for information 1 to 5:

While we aim to provide information whenever possible, Social Security Scotland does not have all the information you requested. This is because we do not have data that could be reasonably interpreted as matching the requested category of ‘other’.

We collect data on the sex of our directly employed staff in two separate ways:

1. We collect data on legal sex for all directly employed staff. The categories are ‘Female’ or ‘Male’.
2. We also collect data on the self-defined sex of our directly employed staff. It is not mandatory for staff to provide this data. The categories are ‘Female’, ‘Male’ or ‘Prefer not to say’.

You may find it helpful to refer to the below link which explains how and why we collect data this way.

Sex, gender identity, trans status - data collection and publication: guidance - gov.scot

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Social Security Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested.

We do however hold data for the legal sex of directly employed staff broken down by grade for 2024/25. Please refer to the attached table titled ‘Number of employees broken down by grade and sex’.

About FOI

Social Security Scotland is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. The Scottish Government also publishes responses to requests. You can view the responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.