The Impact of Welfare Reform in Scotland - Tracking Study Sweep 4 Report - Appendices

Annex 3: Sweep 4 Interview Schedule

Thank you for agreeing to speak to us again. We appreciate the time you have given us so far.

This will be the last time that we interview you for this project. It had been initially planned that this would be a 3-year study and we would have interviewed you a further 2 times. However, the Scottish Government has decided not to fund the study for the last year, as they have put in place alternative arrangements for consulting those affected by benefit changes.

Just to remind you that taking part in this study, at all stages, is completely voluntary. Everything you say will be kept confidential. When we write our report or any academic papers, we will not use any real names or give information that might identify you as the person who has told us these things.

Also you can stop at any point, or decline to answer any particular question that you are not comfortable with. Because of the nature of this research it is possible that we might touch on periods or events in your life which are quite personal, so please feel free to let us know if you would rather not talk about any issue, or if you would prefer to change the subject or to not answer particular questions.

We would, again, like to record the interview if that is ok, so that we can remember everything that you have told us today. Are you happy for us to record this interview or would you prefer us not to?

If telephone interview:

Obtain verbal consent
Check address details for sending voucher

If in person interview

Ask participant to sign consent form
Ask participant to sign voucher receipt form

Do you have any questions before we start?

[Interviewer: Focus on the qualitative responses. Closed questions/coding is for limited analysis]

Section 1: Changes in circumstances

Note to interviewer: These questions are to ascertain changes in people's circumstances. If there has been no change please move on quickly to next set of questions to avoid covering old ground.

I'd like to start by asking about any changes to your household since our last meeting.

• 1. Since the last interview have there been any changes in who is in your household?

• Probe: Anyone moved in; anyone moved out; children born; changes to partnership status
• For new household members: relationship to interviewee, age, sex

• 2. Has there been any change to the type of accommodation that your household lives in?

• Probe: If yes - is this new accommodation owned, rented (if so private, council, housing association), or another tenure type?
• Probe: If yes - how do you feel about this new accommodation? (Area, number of rooms, why they moved, etc.)

Now I'd like to ask you a few questions about any education or training you might have been involved in since we last spoke.

• 3. Have you been involved in any training or education or achieved any new qualifications since the last interview?

• If no - have you wanted to do any training or education but been unable to? If unable - why were you not able to do this?

• 4. If in employment at the last interview: Are you still employed?

• If yes, is this the same job, or have you moved jobs? How many hours per week are you working at the moment, and is this the number of hours you would like to work?
• If new job, probe: How did find this job? Did anyone help you to find this job (If yes - who? e.g. Jobcentre Plus, Work Programme, other organisation, personal contact? If not through Jobcentre/Work Programme, but has had contact with these - how useful did you find them?)

OR if not in employment at the last interview: Have you been involved in any paid work since we last spoke?

• Probe: if new job since last interview - job title, how long in job, permanent or temporary, hours per week (incl. if zero hours), if part-time is this through choice, take home pay
• Probe: How did find this job? Did anyone help you to find this job (If yes - who? e.g. Jobcentre Plus, Work Programme, other organisation, personal contact?)

Are other people in your household still (un)employed?

• 5. If currently not in work: Are you seeking work?

• Probe: Is seeking work a condition of your benefits ( JSA or WRAG)? Do you have any (other) conditions to fulfil?
• Is anyone helping you to find work (If YES - who? e.g. Jobcentre Plus, Work Programme, other organisation, personal contact?)
• What is the type of work you are looking for?
• Do you face any constraints that affect your ability to find working? Prompt: Availability of suitable jobs locally, health/child's health problem, transport, confidence, low hours/low pay, housing, experience, welfare benefits, childcare, etc.

• 6. If currently employed: Do you face any constraints that affect your ability to keep working?

• Prompt: Health/child's health problem, transport, confidence, low hours/low pay, negative experiences/atmosphere at work, housing, experience, welfare benefits, childcare, etc.

Now I'd like to ask you a few questions about your household income and how you're getting by financially.

• 7. Since the last interview have there been any changes to the benefits you are getting?

[Interviewer: Consult list of benefits and any anticipated changes to benefits mentioned in last interview. Where a change is mentioned prompt about the effect on the participant and the household]

• Are you in receipt of new benefits? - If YES what are the differences between what you receive now and what you received previously? Are you happy with the change? How easy or difficult was the process of getting this new benefit? Did you get any help with applying for this new benefit?
• Have you stopped receiving some benefits? Were the changes due to a change in your actual circumstances or due to administrative issues/reforms?
• Have you made any applications since the last interview that are still being processed?
• Are there any benefits that you would like to claim/think you should receive but don't?
• Have you ever delayed or not claimed a benefit that you think you are entitled to received? If yes, what put you off from claiming this benefit?
• Have you received any sanctions? If so - what was the reason, and what were the effects of these sanctions on you?
• If you have not been sanctioned - are you worried about being sanctioned in the future and how does the possibility of sanctions influence what you do?

• 8. Since we last spoke, have there been any changes in how you and your household are managing financially?

• Is there anything that has happened since we last spoke which has affected your income/affected how you manage financially
• How easy have you found it to pay for basics - e.g. rent, bills, food, clothes, since we last met?
• Can you afford to go out - e.g. for a coffee, to the pub, to the cinema? How easy would you find it to pay for a present for a friend or family member?
• If mentioned debt last interview, ask if they are managing to keep up with any repayments
• Have you had to borrow money since the last interview and how often? (specify where the loan is from)

• 9. Taking everything together how would you say you and your household are managing financially these days
• 10. Are you aware of any likely changes to your benefits over the next year?

• Probe: If yes - what do you think will be the effect of these on your life/the other people in your household (including children)?
• Probe: Looking ahead, how do you think you will be financially a year from now, will you be ... better off, worse off than you are now, about the same?

Section 2: Health and wellbeing

Note to interviewer: These questions are to ascertain changes in people's circumstances. If there has been no change please move on quickly to next set of questions to avoid covering old ground.

I'd like to ask some questions about any changes to your health since we last spoke, or to the health of other people in your household (if applicable).

• 11. Has your physical health changed since our last interview?

• Probe for own, personal account of wellbeing here
• Prompt: Is it better or worse?

• 12. Has your mental and emotional health changed since last interview?

• Probe for own, personal account of wellbeing here
• Prompt: Is it better or worse?

• 13. Can you please summarise by rating your overall wellbeing since we last spoke?

• Very poor
• Poor
• Managing OK
• Well
• Very well

• 14. Since the last interview has there been any change to the health of other people in your household? What were they?

Section 3: Reflecting on the past and thinking about the future

• 15. The first time we spoke to you was in [ Month, Year]. Thinking back to that point in time, do you feel that since then your overall situation has improved, got worse, or stayed about the same? [Probe different dimensions of well-being - financial, physical, emotional, social - and the key events that have triggered changes in well-being, including different aspects of claiming benefits (the application process, dealing with changes, the level of benefits, feeling stigmatised, feeling uncertain)]
• 16. Do you think that the current system of welfare benefits works for you?

• What works well? Probe: process of claiming; administration of benefits; communication; support and advice; level of benefits.
• What things would make the system work better? Probe: process of claiming; administration of benefits; communication; support and advice; level of benefits.

• 17. There will be a number of changes to benefits happening in the near future, including changes to tax credits, restrictions on benefits for young people, and changes to the ESA WRAG.

• Are these changes likely to affect you?
• Do you feel that these changes are fair?
• Are there any groups of people that you think will be especially affected by the changes to the welfare system?

• 18. If you had 15 minutes with the Prime Minster/First Minister, what would you like to tell them about what it's like receiving welfare benefits?