Social Security Scotland – Dignity, fairness, respect

• Written by: Janet Richardson — Social Security Scotland — Deputy Director of Client Services Delivery
• Published: 16th November 2022

Social Security Scotland detail the work they have done to embed person centred approaches in partnership with Carer Voices

This is an excerpt from the latest Carer Voices publication ‘Effecting Change’, evidencing culture change in compassionate care across Scotland.

As we continue to work in challenging times, it is important we take the time to think about how we support one another in the workplace and at home. We are committed to treating our clients, colleagues and external stakeholders with dignity, fairness, and respect – and kindness underpins all of this.

Our values come from designing a new service with the people who will need social security support in the years to come. We consulted people with lived experience of the benefits system to design a service suited to their evolving needs. Our challenge has been bringing these values to life at a time when we had to rapidly expand in order to deliver benefits across Scotland. We partnered with the ALLIANCE National Lead for Caring and Outreach, Tommy Whitelaw, to design a staff engagement programme seeking to embed these values into our organisation as our workforce grows – creating and sustaining a culture of kindness.

From September 2020 to June 2022, the ALLIANCE in partnership with Social Security Scotland, delivered over 75 digital learning and development sessions on the theme of Intelligent Kindness to over 2,000 colleagues across Social Security Scotland, from Modern Apprentices to Senior Civil Servants.

The Intelligent Kindness sessions have had a lasting, positive impact on me and my colleagues, leading to a consideration of person-centred care at all levels, and a number of new activities and processes across Social Security Scotland. For example, we have:

• Embedded the messages of What Matters to You within our corporate induction processes, Management Development Programme and new Leadership Toolkit
• Introduced an Intelligent Kindness Group, with colleagues drawn from across different branches across Social Security Scotland with a shared interest in the power of compassion and kindness
• Celebrated ‘What Matters to You’ Day each year, creating a focus on the key messages with staff and clients

Looking at the experiences shared through a staff survey following engagement with the ALLIANCE, we found that:

• 100% of colleagues feel the sessions will make a positive impact on their area of work
• 94% felt that the sessions were relevant for use in Social Security Scotland
• 93% of colleagues felt that the sessions were informative
• 92% felt the sessions were a good use of their time

We have found that this culture change has also corresponded to an improvement in client experiences, as shown by our Client Survey Report between 2020 and 2021:

• 94% of clients agreed that they were treated with kindness, an increase of 4% from the previous year
• 92% of clients felt that staff listened to them, an increase of 12% from the previous year

Further responses showed that clients felt that staff listened carefully to them and understood their needs. It is clear that these sessions are not only helping to make Social Security Scotland a great place to work, but also a place where we treat our clients with dignity, fairness and respect, helping us create a culture of kindness.

We will continue to promote the importance of a person centred approach, practice active listening, and simply ask our colleagues ‘What Matters to You?’. Doing this regularly, at all levels, will ensure that kindness is considered at every interaction.

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