The Scottish Social Services Council is committed to valuing diversity and improving opportunity for all. The SSSC is responsible for registering people who work in social services and regulating their education and training. Our vision is of a competent, confident workforce, capable of delivering high quality services, a workforce that has the confidence of the public, those who use services and their carers. We aim to put service users and carers at the centre of everything we do.

Equality Scheme action plan for 2010/2011 consultation

The SSSC is currently consulting its stakeholders on the content of its draft Equality Scheme action plan for 2010/2011.  The action plan covers gender, race and ethnicity, disability and age.  If you are interested in contributing to this consultation exercise please view the action plan for 2009/10 to see what the SSSC has been doing and to view the draft action plan for 2010/11:

 Draft equalities action plan 2010/2011 (98.14 kB)

If you are interested in contributing to this consultation exercise please email your views and comments to susan.sneddon@sssc.uk by Friday 30 July 2010 and we will be able to take these in to account in finalising the plan for the following year. Alternatively you can complete our short survey at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ssscequalityactionplan2010

Please feel free to circulate this to any colleagues or associates that may also be interested in contributing to the consultation.

In carrying out our work we believe in the importance of promoting equal opportunities. We are very aware of the benefits to our stakeholders and to the SSSC of taking positive and meaningful action on equality and diversity.

Meeting our duties

As a public body the SSSC not only has a general duty to promote equality but also has a number of specific legal duties in relation to race, disability and gender. We are required to produce an equality scheme and action plan setting out how we will comply with these duties.

SSSC Equality and Diversity Policy (105.95 kB)	2006 - present
SSSC Equality Scheme (111.21 kB)	2009 - 2012

Conducting equality impact assessments

Under the General Equality Duty the SSSC has a legal obligation to carry out equality impact assessments on our relevant policies and functions. In relation to their own work everyone within the organisation has a responsibility to participate in this process.

• Download the Equality Impact Assessment Guidance
• Download the Equality Impact Assessment Toolkit

Equality scheme annual report

Equality Scheme Annual Report (44.57 kB)	2008/2009
Appendix one: Revised Equality Scheme (111.21 kB)	2008/2009
Appendix two: Equality Action Plan 2009 - 2010 (100.46 kB)	2008/2009

Meeting our disability equality duties

• Download a copy of  Meeting our Disability Equality Duties: Annual Report for the period 2008/2009 (26.25 kB)

Meeting our gender equality duties

• Download a copy of the Gender Equality Duties Annual Report 2008/2009

Maintaining Standards: Promoting Equality

In September 2007 the former Disability Rights Commission (DRC) published a report on its final formal investigation “Maintaining Standards: Promoting Equality”. The DRC’s investigation looked into the regulation of the health of teachers, nurses and social workers.

The SSSC contributed to this formal investigation in Scotland and we work towards addressing its recommendations.

You can download a copy of the summary and full report along with other information on the investigation at: www.maintainingstandards.org

Equality and Human Rights Commission

The Equality and Human Rights Commission replaces the three former commissions: Commission for Racial Equality, the Disability Rights Commission and the Equal Opportunities Commission.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission champions equality and human rights for all, working to eliminate discrimination, reduce inequality, protect human rights and build good relations ensuring everyone has a fair chance to participate in society.  For further information please visit their website.

SSSC equality and diversity archive

You can view older documents in our equality and diversity document archive