Scotland's Devolved Employment Services

26th February 2020

Statistics have been published by the Scottish Government to provide an insight into the first 21 months of Fair Start Scotland (FSS), launched in April 2018. FSS aims to help unemployed people into sustainable employment.

A total of 30,348 people were referred to FSS between April 2018 and December 2019, and 19,003 of those referrals started the service. The proportion of people referred who started to receive FSS support has increased over time from 48% in April to June 2018 (Quarter 1 of Year 1) to 70% in July to September 2019 (Quarter 2 of Year 2) .

It is too early to determine the proportion of people who will gain or sustain employment for the majority of those starting FSS. However, it is possible for those who started in the first three months of the service.

A minority of people who started FSS in April to June 2018 had entered sustained employment: 32% started a job. Of these people, 22% sustained employment for three months, and 17% sustained employment for 6 months.

Of the people who started a job, most kept it for at least six months: 69% of people starting jobs went on to sustain employment for three months, and 77% of them went on to reach six months.