Fair Work action plan 2022 and Anti-Racist Employment Strategy 2022: business and regulatory impact assessment

8. Recommendations

The following recommendations are made based on the BRIA of the RAP and ARES set out above:

Due to limited data available to inform this assessment, the outcome of proposed conditionality of Scottish Government grant funding requiring organisations to pay the real Living Wage and provide channels for effective worker voice is uncertain. More research and data is required on grant funding to understand the number and type of organisations that will be impacted, and the scale of funding that would be subject to conditionality. This in turn could inform an assessment of any potential impacts on specific sectors or types of organisation.

The RAP and ARES set out a number of measures including engagement and information dissemination to support and guide organisations in the most effective way to implement Fair Work practices. Clear and evidence-based support and guidance would be expected to reduce administrative and implementation costs for organisations, and in turn maximise beneficial impacts.

On-going engagement and research is proposed within the RAP to be carried out by Scottish Government in order to develop an evidence base on the most effective processes for achieving Fair Work outcomes. The outcomes of this would feed into on-going guidance and organisational support. This work would be expected to further support the maximisation of positive impacts arising from the implementation of Fair Work practices within organisations.

Sector specific support or exceptions to Scottish Government grant availability may be required to avoid unintended impacts. In particular, it is recommended an assessment of potential impacts on the agricultural sector arising from grant conditionality is carried out to understand the interaction between the real Living Wage and other statutory wage requirements specific to the sector.

The RAP and ARES should recognise and where possible monetise the potential for implementation costs associated with Fair Work practices to impact smaller businesses and organisations disproportionately, where these organisations have narrower profit margins than larger firms.

The Minority Ethnic Recruitment Toolkit was published by the Scottish Government to support employers in recruiting from racialised minority communities. While a lot of the content has been drawn from practice that is used in parts of the public sector, the information in this toolkit may be equally useful to employers in other sectors.

On-going engagement with businesses, carried out across a range of platforms the public sector and organisations in the third sector, as proposed by the RAP and ARES, is likely to be needed to support the successful roll out of best practice measures.