Inclusion & Diversity
Our Commitment
SCRA is committed to eliminating discrimination, promoting inclusion and encouraging diversity amongst our workforce and through everything that we do – for children, families, partners and our people. We oppose all forms of unlawful and unfair discrimination to ensure that we provide a fair, equitable and inclusive service for all.
SCRA is working to embed an ethos and practice of equality, diversity and inclusion in all its service delivery, practices, processes and policies. SCRA strives to ensure that it employs a workforce that is diverse and equipped with the right mix of skills and experience to deliver a sensitive service to children and families. We aspire to being an organisation that embraces our differences, acknowledges our strengths and is representative of all sections of society; promoting equality and respect so that everyone is able to achieve their potential.
Being inclusive not only makes SCRA a great place to work and keep our people engaged and motivated, it ensures that we are continually improving and delivering the best possible service to children and their families – a service that is accessible to all, meets individual needs and upholds their rights.
Our Equality Outcomes 2024 – 2027 are:
- We will consistently ask for and check the accuracy of children’s equality data to improve the recording of children’s protected characteristics on SCRA’s computer system, CSAS so that we can identify areas of inequality and also identify trends and patterns in outcomes between and within the protected characteristics.
- We will review and revise our recruitment process so that it is more inclusive to attract more diverse candidates to work for SCRA and encourage greater workforce diversity.
- We will become a proactively anti-racist organisation; this will include all staff taking part in a mandatory anti-racist programme of work led by an expert external provider, actively challenging racism and better understanding potential discrimination in our decision-making.
- We will work to understand the impact of socio-economic disadvantage on how we engage with children and families, focusing specifically on how age, disability and sex influence their ability to engage with, and participate in, Children’s Hearings; to ensure we do not discriminate against those who experience poverty.
Key Equalities and Inclusion publications
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Mainstreaming Report 2023/24
SCRA's British Sign Language (BSL) Action Plan 2024-2029
SCRA’s
Employee Statistics
SCRA is covered by general and specific equality duties arising from the Equality Act (2010) and is committed to ensuring it not only complies with equalities legislation and best practice, but mainstreams equalities into every aspect of its core business. The Scottish Specific Duties Regulations came into force on 27 May 2012.
These regulations have been amended twice – in 2015 and again in 2016. All three sets of Regulations must be read together. This general equality duty requires public authorities, in the exercise of their functions, to have due regard to the need to:
1. Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited under the Act
2. Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not share it
3. Foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.
SCRA recognises that human rights underpin and provide the foundation for all equality, inclusion and diversity legislation and policy. For further information please visit the ECHR and UNCRC websites.
Our Equality Outcomes and Mainstreaming Progress Report has been published (March 2024).
We published our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Strategy 2020-2023 which sets out our plans for the next three years. You can also access our previous Equalities & Inclusion Strategy and Outcomes for 2018-21
SCRA is committed to the aims of the Equality Act 2010 and the principle of Equal Pay for all employees. SCRA will publish statements in line with The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 as amended.
You can view our latest Gender Pay Gap Report up to 31 March 2023. Our Equal Pay Statement (March 2022) is available and is still current. SCRA’s detailed Equal Pay Audit Statement (March 2015) is also still current. The statement shows that there are no unexplainable or significant equal pay gaps in SCRA.
New March 2024 – SCRA’s Employee Statistics for 2023 are now available. Statistics from 2022 and 2021 are also available.
SCRA provides extensive statistics on children and young people we work with – visit the resource section of our website.
Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessments (EHRIAs) are a recognised way of improving policy development and service delivery. By assessing equality and human rights impact of our policies and practices, we proactively consider the needs of the children, young people and their families whom we serve, our staff and our stakeholders, identify potential steps to advance equality and foster good relations, and ensure that we do not discriminate unlawfully. SCRA has a statutory duty to publish EHRIAs. You can view our most recent ones to be published here.
SCRA is also a member of the NDPB Equality Group whose primary purpose is to share information and best practice on equalities across the public sector which will help enable each NDPB to meet the requirements of the equality legislation.
SCRA is also a member of the Justice Board Equality and Diversity sub-group.
The Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018 sets a gender representation objective for boards of listed Scottish public authorities, of which SCRA is one, that 50% of Board Members are women, and it requires public authorities to take certain steps towards achieving that objective by no later than December 2022. SCRA must report on the gender representation of its Board every 2 years. Our report as of 31 March 2023 is available here.
Women in Leadership
SCRA recognises and is committed to reducing its gender pay gap as outlined in our Gender Pay Gap Report. In 2018, SCRA launched its Women into Leadership Network to support female staff across the organisation, irrespective of role or grade, to develop and progress in their careers. SCRA is proud to have such inspirational women as part of its workforce and playing such a pivotal role in its leadership.
If you are interested in hearing more about the work of our Women into Leadership Network, you can read this Spotlight piece.
More information/questions
If you would like more information, or if you have any questions, comments or suggestions about equality and inclusion matters relating to SCRA, please email the Equalities Mailbox.
Receive our e-news bulletin
Enter email to sign up to our newsletter
Thank you for signing up to the SCRA Newsletter!