We were contacted by one of the user researchers working with Social Security Scotland, who are currently designing services to deliver a ‘new benefit’ to be called Pension Age Winter Heating Payment (PAWHP).
PAWHP will launch during the winter of 2024, and it will be paid to all eligible pension-aged people living in Scotland.
PAWHP will replace the Winter Fuel Payment which is currently paid annually by DWP, (Winter Fuel Payment Overview). The eligibility and payment amount for PAWHP will align very closely to the existing Winter Fuel Payment, and payment will be made automatically to majority of eligible clients.
This research aims to introduce the PAWHP with as little disruption as possible for its recipients. They seek pension-aged people to take part in ‘in-person’ research to help them to explore how well the PAWHP paper application form, the MyGov web pages, and letter notifications are read and understood.
In particular they would like to speak with pension-aged people who may be living with some issues of age-related low vision or be hard-of-hearing (and in particular hearing aid users), or those who struggle with physical or cognitive conditions which makes it difficult for them to deal with letters or a mobile phone if they use one.
The research sessions would involve an interview. The reason for in-person interview is so that they can share the paper form and letters, and also to see how the web pages are interacted in a face to face setting. The interview would be for 60 mins maximum, and they are very flexible and happy to work around the schedule of respondents. There are some dates the researchers have set aside. They happy to conduct the interviews either in the Scottish Government offices in Edinburgh or meet participants in a place of their choosing – such as their home or local library.
Potential research dates:
- Wed, 31st Jan
- Thurs 1st Feb
- Fri 2nd Feb
- Fri 9th Feb
- Mon 12th Feb
- Tues 13th Feb
- Wed 14th Feb
- Thurs 15th Feb
To thank each participant for their involvement, there will be a Love2Shop gift card.
If you are interested please contact Moira McGregor. Email: Moira.Mcgregor@gov.scot or phone: 0742 942 8880