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Scottish Government update on progress of fair work plans

  • Area of Work: The ALLIANCE
  • Type: News Item
  • Published: 8th March 2021
Papers

New reports show steps taken so far and progress yet to be made on closing the gender pay gap, and the employment gap for disabled people.

To coincide with International Women’s Day (8 March), the Scottish Government have published progress reports on aspects of the Fair Work agenda (this link will take you away from our website). These relate to the “Fairer Scotland for…” action plans, for the gender pay gap and the employability gap amongst disabled people.

The annual report on the gender pay gap action plan (this link will take you away from our website) notes the heavily gendered impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, with women overwhelmingly taking on the increased responsibilities of care and housework. The heavily gendered nature of the social care workforce is also identified, with a cultural change to valuing childcare and social care as economic infrastructure considered essential. A commitment has also been made to gender impact assessments for devolved social security entitlements, to identify the impact on women’s equality.

Disabled people are under-represented in the workforce, and the annual report on the employment action plan notes the government’s intention to half the employability gap (this link will take you away from our website). From a starting point of 37.4% in 2016, the gap had narrowed to 32.6% by 2019, as employment rates for disabled people increased. However, this does not account for the impact of the pandemic.

Programmes such as Fair Start Scotland have been assisting disabled people to find work, and the Scottish Government themselves have committed to employing more disabled people as Social Security Scotland increases in size. The proportion of the agency’s workforce identifying as disabled increased from 8% in March 2019 to 12.1% in September 2020.

You can read more about the overall fair work programme via the Scottish Government (this link will take you away from our website).

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