We have published our fourth Equality Outcomes and Mainstreaming Progress Report which presents our progress and performance towards delivering our equality outcomes and mainstreaming approach into our work.
We are committed to tackling inequality and supporting the Scottish Government’s value statement:
‘Scotland is a society which treats all people with kindness, dignity and compassion, respects the rule of law, and acts in an open and transparent way.’
To reduce the inequalities experienced by people:
- we are committed to carrying out equality impact assessments of our policies, procedures and changes to service delivery
- we will deliver the equality outcomes we set ourselves between 2017 and 2021, including improving the information we hold
- reducing inequality is mainstreamed and part of our ongoing service delivery
- we will make sure we are working to increase the diversity of our workforce and the social service workforce in Scotland.
About the report
This report includes information on SSSC employee protected characteristics. Staff provided this information when they started their employment with us and have updated this throughout their employment. As we move to our new HR system, we will ask employees to update this information again. Of the employees who provided data up to January 2019:
- 6% are female
- 4% are aged between 25 – 54 years
- 9% declared as having a disability
- 9% are married
- 6% say they have no religion/belief.
Through our Equalities Action Plan we have highlighted areas of good progress while also recognising where we need to make improvements.
- The aim of our Ambassadors for Careers in Care project is to change the perceptions of social service roles including tackling gender stereotyping. We promote careers in social services through our career/qualification pathways which aim to attract people into the sector regardless of their previous experience or qualifications while demonstrating why social care is a career choice.
- We produced a website to promote careers in childcare in partnership with Skills Development Scotland, Care Inspectorate and Scottish Government. This will not only support the expansion of early learning and childcare but also show the diversity of a career working with children and young people including out of school care and residential childcare.
- We will look to improve how we monitor the protected characteristics of SSSC registered workers going through our fitness to practice process by using an online questionnaire.
- We are examining how best to record information about registrant’s protected characteristics when allegations are made against them to determine if we can make any reasonable adjustments.
- We are examining how to collate information for social service workers when they register so we have a better understanding of our workforce and how we can best support their needs.
Read the Equality Outcomes and Mainstreaming Progress Report here.
If you have any comments or questions please contact cheryl.glen@sssc.uk.com