Fair Work First: guidance - March 2023

How the guidance should be used

The Fair Work First guidance is designed to support business and other organisations to progress on a journey of continuous improvement in Fair Work and to demonstrate that they are meeting the criteria and conditions for accessing public sector grants and for public contracts. It is advisable to read the whole document once, however the table of contents should be helpful in finding those sections that are most relevant for you as and when needed.

In addition to accessing support provided by relevant networks, organisations should use this guidance in conjunction with other relevant guidance, such as:

• Grant policy guidance and information provided as part of the application and evaluation processes;
• Strategic guidance provided to Scotland's public bodies by Scottish Ministers and framework/funding agreements between Scottish Ministers and such bodies;
• The Scottish Public Finance Manual.
• Procurement guidance, such as: Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014: statutory guidance; Best Practice Guidance and Scottish Procurement Policy Notes;

Employers are also encouraged to use the Fair Work Employer Support Tool to understand their fair work practices and access support to enable them to strengthen their approach. Similarly, employers should encourage their workers to use the Fair Work Convention's online Self-Assessment Tool to assess their own experience of Fair Work and be willing to engage with workers and unions in responding to the findings of these assessment tools.

The guidance can be used by the respective stakeholders as follows:

Public sector grants

• grant-makers should use the guidance as follows:
  • to consider how the Fair Work First criteria, including the two mandatory criteria, applies to a grant, consistent with the context in which it can be applied;
  • to design application forms/proposal templates that enable them to gather information about an applicant's commitment to Fair Work First, including assurance that the two mandatory criteria can be met;
  • to evaluate a grant applicant's commitment to Fair Work First contained in its application/proposal; and verify the commitment;
  • to engage with a grant recipient to agree relevant milestones and outcomes for delivering their Fair Work First commitment;
  • to evaluate progress being made towards those commitments as part of grant management arrangements;
  • to be assured that the grant recipient is paying at least the real Living Wage and provide appropriate effective workers' voice channels;
  • to determine if there is a case for an exception to the applicant being required to pay at least the real Living Wage and/or a flexibility to effective workers' voice.
• grant applicants / recipients should use the guidance to:
  • agree their organisation's approach for applying Fair Work First criteria within the organisation;
  • provide evidence in the grant application confirming they are meeting the real Living Wage and effective voice conditions, and action they are taking to meet the other Fair Work First criteria;
  • monitor progress towards delivering against the agreed project proposal and related milestones in relation to the Fair Work First criteria as part of grant management arrangements;
  • consider further action which could be taken to enhance the organisation's Fair Work approach.

Public sector procurements

• buyers (those awarding a public contract) should use the guidance as follows:
  • consider, before undertaking a procurement exercise, whether it is relevant and proportionate to include questions on Fair Work First including payment of at least the real Living Wage.
  • consider adopting the Scottish Government's approach to mandate payment of at least the real Living Wage in public procurement exercises
  • to support the evaluation of bids submitted by suppliers;
  • where appropriate, to evaluate progress being made towards delivering against their tender proposals in relation to the Fair Work First criteria through contract management arrangements.
• bidders / suppliers should use the guidance to:
  • explain in the response to tender the actions they will take throughout the lifetime of the contact to deliver the Fair Work First criteria, where it is relevant to the contract;
  • agree their approach for applying Fair Work First within the contract;
  • monitor and provide evidence of progress towards delivering against their Tender response in relation to the Fair Work First criteria as part of contract management arrangements.

Funding for public bodies and other public sector partners

Public bodies and other public sector partners have a dual role to play in supporting the implementation of Fair Work First: as employers; and as the stewards of significant public funding which supports them to deliver public services and support Scottish Government priorities, including through procurements or the award of grants/funding.

• Scottish Government sponsorship / funding leads should use the guidance as follows, working within relevant legislation and/or existing funding relationships:
  • to consider how Fair Work First applies to the public body/public sector partner;
  • to agree with the body/partner what their Fair Work First priorities will be;
  • to be assured that the body/partner is meeting the requirement to pay at least the real Living Wage and provide appropriate effective workers' voice channels;
  • to be assured that the body/partner is applying Fair Work First to relevant flow-through grants they award;
  • to evaluate progress being made towards the body's Fair Work First commitments as part of the agreed monitoring and reporting arrangements.
• public bodies and other public sector partners should use the guidance to:
  • identify their Fair Work First priorities;
• assure the sponsorship team/funder that they are meeting the requirement to pay at least the real Living Wage and provide effective workers' voice;
• monitor and provide evidence of progress towards meeting the Fair Work First criteria as part of sponsorship/funding arrangements;
• consider further action the organisation could take to enhance their Fair Work approach;
• apply Fair Work First, including the mandatory criteria, to any relevant grants they themselves award
• apply Fair Work First in line with public sector procurement rules.