Disability Benefits Policy Unit
Scottish Government
Subject: Next Steps on Delivery of Employment Injury Assistance Scotland
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (the Commission) welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Scottish Government’s consultation on ‘Next Steps on Delivery of Employment Injury Assistance Scotland’.
The Commission is Britain’s equality and human rights regulator. We are also an accredited National Human Rights Institution (NHRI) and our human rights responsibilities in Scotland extend to reserved matters. The Scottish Human Rights Commission has a mandate to promote and protect human rights in Scotland that fall within the competence of the Scottish Parliament. As such, our response relates to the equality aspects of our remit as regulator.
Existing inequalities
The Industrial Injuries Scheme (IIS) is not currently fit for purpose in a modern Scottish society and workplace and requires reform.
Key stakeholders and experts such as Trade Unions and Disabled People’s Organisations in Scotland made clear in The Scottish Parliament's Call for Views on Mark Griffin MSP’s proposed Private Member’s Bill, IIS has an overwhelming gender bias and is too out-dated to meet modern workers’ needs.
There is a significant gender disparity within the scheme, with men making up an overwhelming majority of people receiving the benefit. Occupational segregation is an issue, with most of the injuries or conditions attracting compensation from the existing ISS system more likely to be acquired in industries which tend to be dominated by men. This excludes and negates the risks and injuries associated with industries more likely to employ women, such as social care, where conditions such as Long Covid are more prevalent and are not covered by ISS in its current form.
There is a clear need for a modernised system for employment injury assistance to better meet the needs of a modern society and workforce and which will close the gender gap. This will ensure men and women get the support they are entitled to after sustaining an injury or developing an illness or condition in the workplace.
An intersectional approach
The importance of an intersectional approach to developing a new benefit is clearly demonstrated in the Commission’s work on health and social care issues. An intersectional approach would consider the overlapping discrimination and inequalities faced by people with several protected characteristics (e.g., gender, disability, race).
Our inquiry (2022) ‘Experiences from health and social care: the treatment of lower-paid ethnic minority workers’ highlighted the prominence of women in health and social care roles in Scotland, finding that 79% of all NHS workers and 85% of social care home workers in 2020 were women.
We also found that Ethnic Minority workers in health and social care, the vast majority of which are women, faced greater risk in the workplace. As an example our inquiry reported that Ethnic Minority workers were asked to undertake more risky tasks and were redeployed in Covid-19 wards more than their White or White British colleagues, putting them at greater risk of Long Covid.
A TUC report (2023) highlighted the severity of Long Covid as a workers and equalities issue, noting that disabled people and women are more likely to contract the condition. The report found that 1 in 7 respondents had lost their job because of reasons connected to Long Covid and a further 2 in 3 said that they had experienced one or more types of unfair treatment at work.
An intersectional equalities approach is therefore essential to establish the extent of the gaps and inadequacies in the existing ISS and ensure a reformed benefit accurately reflects the risks of the modern workplace and adequately supports women and ethnic minority workers.
Equality Impact Assessments and Public Sector Equality Duty
Equality Impact Assessments (EQIAs) must be carried out, and guide the development and implementation of the Employment Injury Assistance benefit in Scotland, in line with existing Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) requirements.
EQIAs should be carried out at the beginning of the development process to ensure that public bodies anticipate the needs of protected characteristic groups when making decisions about projects, policies or services.
The Commission’s understanding is that EQIAs for the different ‘option’ proposals outlined in the consultation have not yet been published and made readily available. We recommend that this be done in good time to ensure PSED requirements are met, and equalities perspectives are fully considered.
Reasonable adjustments
We note the two options presented in the consultation document detailing possible next steps for the Scottish Government to pursue as the benefit is devolved and brought under Social Security Scotland’s remit.
We would highlight the potential risks within Option One, the proposal to continue a mostly paper-based system process for a period of time, and the accessibility implications this may have on service users and staff.
Under Section 20 of the Equality Act (2010) organisations have a duty to make reasonable adjustments to ensure people are able to access services equally and without discrimination. This is an anticipatory duty, meaning that systems should be in place in advance of clients asking for adjustments, such as ensuring alternative formats of any paper documents or forms involved in the process are available.
Next steps
Noting the comments made on Option One, the Commission has no preference for either option proposed in the consultation document. This should be developed with the involvement of relevant groups with lived experience and their representative organisations, such as trade unions and disabled people’s organisations. However, we reaffirm the need for the reform of the ISS, using an intersectional equalities lens to guide this, to address the gender gaps that exists at present.
To guide effective decision-making, particularly given the concerns outlined above and in the consultation document itself, an Equality Impact Assessment must be carried out for each of the identified proposals at the earliest opportunity to establish the positive and negative impacts that these different routes to implementation may have on equalities groups.
We would be happy to discuss our submission with the Committee at any future opportunity.
Yours sincerely,
John Wilkes
Head of Scotland
