Fair Work Action Plan 2022 and Anti-Racist Employment Strategy 2022: child rights and wellbeing impact assessment

6. Assessment of Anti-Racist Employment Strategy

The actions listed in the Anti-Racist Employment Strategy have broadly been considered earlier in this document, where they sit throughout the Fair Work Action Plan. However, where additional assessment or comment is required, it has been included below.

Action 1: Establish a platform for exchanging learning and good operational practice among employers - practice that is anti-racist and intersectional in its approach.

This action sits within RAP action 3.1.

This platform would form a central component of a central Fair Work resource. Increasing the number of employers using an anti-racist approach could help to reduce racial discrimination in the workplace which would create positive impacts for young people from racialised minorities.

The provisional CRWIA score for this action is minor positive.

Action 2: Undertake evaluation of the 'Minority Ethnic Recruitment Toolkit' to ensure it remains fit for purpose (anti-racist and intersectional) and is applied across the public sector. Consider augmenting the toolkit to include other accessible support sources, including those for retention and progression.

This action sits within RAP action 3.1.

This action also contributes to the development of a central Fair Work resource and could increase the number of racialised minority individuals entering the labour market and develop a labour market that is representative of the population it serves.

Delivering a toolkit tailored to the recruitment of racialised minorities could assist in overcoming the barrier of structural racism and narrow the employment gap between racialised minorities and the white population. This could generate long-term positive impacts through reducing racialised minority households' vulnerability to in-work poverty, this could provide significant positive impacts to children who are then less likely to experience poverty.

The provisional CRWIA score for this action is minor positive.

Action 3: Promote and disseminate learning and practice that shows positive change in employers' end to end processes to increase representation of racialised minorities.

This action sits within RAP action 3.1.

The dissemination of learning and practice will contribute to the Fair Work resource under action 3.1 of the RAP and progress towards developing a labour market representative of the population it serves.

This action could overcome racial discrimination in recruitment processes through demonstrating best practice examples. Racialised minority groups could experience increased representation within the labour market, particularly within more secure and senior positions in which there is currently underrepresentation. Consequently, this has the potential to alleviate the poverty trap of low paid insecure employment and the vulnerability of children in racialised minority households to in-work poverty.

The provisional CRWIA score for this action is minor positive.

Action 4: Develop an intersectional and anti-racist training framework for public and private sector employers by which to assess their training needs and improve the quality of training offered in the organisation.

This action sits within RAP action 3.7.

Developing an anti-racist training framework could reduce labour market stigma responsible for racially motivated structural and systemic barriers to employment. Embedding race equality training in all positions and responsibilities within an organisation could lead to an improved workplace culture, greater support for racialised minorities in the workplace and better-informed policies and practices to address racial inequality. This could directly benefit young people from racialised minorities in workplaces who could face intersectional inequalities in relation to race and age.

However, as the framework is still to be developed, it is not possible to fully assess the impact on children and young people at this stage.

The provisional CRWIA score for this action is uncertain.

Action 5: Produce guidance on positive action to support employers across the public sector and promote this guidance through a series of engagement sessions.

This action sits within RAP action 3.5.

Children and young people could benefit from increased security of work and income for parents and guardians in their households. For example, Women could experience greater liberation in the labour market because of this action, including uplifted wages and status, and pregnant women could overcome the 'motherhood penalty'. Targeted positive action measures could help to narrow the disability employment gap and remove barriers to certain roles and sectors for racialised minorities. Young people themselves, who are currently overrepresented in zero-hour contracts, could access more secure employment.

The provisional CRWIA score for this action is major positive.

Action 6: By the end of 2025 we will review and disseminate learning and best practice on the conclusion of the 2024 Workplace Equality Fund.

This action sits within RAP action 3.4.

The sharing of learning from the 2024 Workplace Equality Fund will be helpful to employers across Scotland in increasing their knowledge and capability in delivering fair work. However, it is not possible to assess the impact on children and young people at this stage.

The provisional CRWIA score for this action is uncertain.

Action 7: Oversee pilot to improve engagement of employers and employability services with racialised minority communities. Includes work to support EQIA process among employers. To improve the quality of assessments and how the practice can be embedded at the start of a process or policy development.

This action sits within RAP action 4.3.

Engagement with employability services could increase the recruitment, retention and progression of young people from racialised minorities in the labour market through tailored accessible support.

This action also supports the equality duties of employers under the Equality Act 2010 through encouraging equality assessments and improving the quality of these. This could ensure that workplace processes and policies are non-discriminatory and remove barriers for young people across Scotland, as well as racialised minorities and other groups. Children from racialised minorities could therefore be relieved from the poverty trap of low paid insecure employment and experience a lesser vulnerability to in-work poverty.

The provisional CRWIA score for this action is major positive.

Action 8: We will work with Labour Market Analysis colleagues to run a series of dissemination sessions when labour market statistics on ethnicity are published to make employers (and stakeholders) aware of data that is available and to support them to use national data to help inform their practice.

This action sits within RAP action 1.5.

The positive impacts of action 1.5 within the RAP are applicable here. Where this data considers age, direct positive impacts could be felt by children and young people in workplaces. It is more likely that indirect impacts would be felt in relation to other household members and their experience of the workplace.

The provisional CRWIA score for this action is minor positive.

Action 9: We will continue to press the UK Government to mandate ethnicity pay gap reporting, legislate for the prohibition of caste discrimination under the Equality Act 2010.

This action sits within the aggregated action narrative of RAP as follows: "We will also lobby the UK Parliament for key changes to reserved legislation to address racialised systemic inequity, including mandating employers to report their ethnicity pay gap."

This action could establish a more equal and fair labour market through legislation. Mandating ethnicity pay gap reporting could narrow the 8.38% pay gap between the White and Non-White ethnic groups of Scotland. While prohibiting caste discrimination could enhance the PSED of employers under the Equality Act to remove systemic discrimination and increase the recruitment, retention and progression of racialised minorities in the workforce.

This could provide positive impacts for children and young people through reducing household vulnerability to poverty for racialised minorities.

However, the ability of small organisations to collect and publish usable data in relation to the ethnicity pay gap without experiencing GDPR conflicts could withhold the positive impacts of this action. Further, stakeholders expressed concerns regarding the anonymity of pay gap data, especially when sharing intersectional analysis for groups with one or more protected characteristics such as racialised minority women.

Further, the degree of impact felt by racialised minorities in Scotland is dependent on the decision of the UK Government.

The provisional CRWIA score for this action is uncertain.

Action 10: Work with partners to establish senior leadership networks to build capability and understanding of racism and racial inequality in the workplace by the end of 2023.

This action sits within RAP action 1.4.

The establishment of senior leadership networks, equipped with the capability and understanding of racism, could bring positive impacts for children and young people directly where they are in work as they could face less racial inequality and indirectly by increasing employment outcomes for other members of their household.

Further information on the scope, membership and focus of these senior leadership networks would be required to fully assess the impact on children of this action.

The provisional CRWIA score for this action is uncertain.

Action 11: Co-deliver a series of engagements with the public sector by end of 2023 to support employers to address the recommendations of the Scottish Parliament's Equalities and Human Right's Committee's inquiry report into race equality, employment and skills which recommended employers assess their organisations' understanding of racism and structural barriers; employers subject to the Public Sector Equality Duty as a minimum, voluntarily record and publish their ethnicity pay gap and produce an action plan to deliver identified outcomes.

This action sits within RAP action 1.2.

Further collecting, monitoring and analysis of ethnicity pay gap information could deliver tangible benefits in tackling labour market inequalities for racialised minorities.

Beyond direct impacts for workers who are both under 18 and from racialised minorities, tackling these inequalities could have indirect positive impacts children and young people from racialised minorities.

The provisional CRWIA score for this action is minor positive.

Action 12: Ensure messaging around anti-racism and intersectionality is taken account of in Fair Work First guidance as used in procurement and grant funding processes.

This action sits within RAP action 2.2.

The impact upon children and young people is likely to be both direct – where they are of working age and in one or more of the groups identified for priority action – and indirect where they are in a household with those who are.

At this stage, it is not possible to fully assess the impact on children of changes to the Fair Work First criteria, but this could be measured through the implementation stage of the new criteria.

The provisional CRWIA score for this action is minor positive.

Action 13: The Scottish Government to undertake an equal pay audit examining pay gaps by gender, disability, race, and age by March 2024. We will act on findings to review and refresh our recruitment and retention policies to address workplace inequalities by end of 2025.

This action sits within RAP action 1.1.

The number of under 19s employed by the Scottish Government in Q3 of 2022 was 22. While no breakdown of job roles or grades is available, this small number of young people could benefit directly from an equal pay audit related to age. These individuals may also see intersectional benefits of pay gap audits in relation to gender, disability and race being carried out.

However, direct benefits are not the only ways in which children can be positively impacted by an action looking to address pay gaps in the Scottish Government workforce. Where children are living in a household with a parent or guardian who works for the Scottish Government, pay gaps being resolved could result in higher levels of income for the household.

The provisional CRWIA score for this action is minor positive.