Equality and diversity

• Our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion
• Equality, diversity and inclusion statement of intent
• Meeting our Equality Requirements
• Publications
  
• Our policies and strategic workforce plan
• Our staff networks 
• Race Equality in Employment
• Recommendations
• Our commitment to the recommendations
• LGBT Charter Champion Group 
• First Minister’s National Advisory Council on women and girls (NACWG)
• Our position statement on Modern Slavery
• Age Scotland
• Carer Positive Employer
• Fair Work Framework
• United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
• Contact us
  

At the Care Inspectorate, we believe that people in Scotland should experience a better quality of life as a result of accessible, excellent services that are designed and delivered to reflect their individual needs and promote their rights.  We are committed to advancing equality of opportunity, eliminating unlawful discrimination and fostering good relations between all protected characteristics.

Our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion

• We ensure that the voice of people who experience care is reflected in all our work
• We promote fairness, equality, diversity and inclusion in all that we do
• We promote dignity and respect and human rights for all
• We recognise and value individual differences and the contributions of all
• We treat people fairly and according to their needs
• We have a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of discrimination, harassment, bullying or victimisation
• We have a culture where everyone feels valued and included.

As an organisation, our work, has a focus on people’s rights, choices and individual outcomes, the things that matter most to people. We continue to strive to put equality and diversity at the heart of all we do and that’s why we made equality and diversity a key principle of our Corporate Plan.

Equality, diversity and inclusion statement of intent

At the Care Inspectorate we’re committed to creating a culture that embraces equality, diversity, inclusion and belonging for everyone.

At the Care Inspectorate we value, celebrate and fully embrace to the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion. This requires us all to recognise and respect each others’ differences. Creating an inclusive work environment where we all feel a sense of belonging helps us to do our best work, which results in the best possible outcomes for people who experience care.

We are a values-driven organisation, which means our values inform and guide everything that we do. Our key values of being person-centred, fair and respectful are the most relevant to equality, diversity and inclusion. We expect everyone to follow the principles that are set out in the Health and Social Care Standards as well as any relevant individual codes of practice.

As an employer, we want to increase the diversity of our workforce and would especially welcome applications from disabled people, people from a minority ethnic background, people of all ages, men (as we have a 79% female workforce) people from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans community and people with care experience. We want a workforce that reflects the wider Scottish population that we serve.

Signed by our strategic leadership team

The strategic leadership team have signed this statement to demonstrate our commitment to leading inclusively and to show accountability on making equality, diversity and inclusion integral to the way we do things around here.

Meeting our Equality Requirements

Like other public bodies in Scotland, we are required to meet the requirements of the General and Specific Public Sector Equality Duties, as set out by the Equality Act 2010 and the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012. We report on our equality obligations under the legislation every two years.  

Publications

In our dual role as a scrutiny and improvement body and a public sector employer, we are committed to meeting our legal obligations in all aspects of our work. We are covered by general and specific equality duties arising from the Equality Act (2010) which helps us to integrate equality into our day-to-day work. We report on our equality obligations under the legislation every two years. Here are our publications:

• 2023: Equalities Mainstreaming Progress Report April 2021 - March 2023
• 2021: Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2021-25
• 2021: Equalities Mainstreaming Report 2019-21
• 2019: Equal Pay Policy Statement
• 2019: Equality and Diversity Policy
• 2019: Equality Outcomes, Mainstreaming Report and Action Plan 2019-21
• 2019: Equalities Occupational Segregation Data - Disability, Gender, Race 
• 2017: Equalities Occupational Segregation Data

Our policies and strategic workforce plan 

We appreciate and value our workforce and have a range of family friendly and flexible working policies available. We are proud of the range of inclusive work practices we offer colleagues.

We offer equalities training to our workforce and this is built into our induction and includes our managers and leaders. We have a supportive and respectful organisational culture that values equality and diversity and promotes inclusion for our workforce. Our robust people management policies and processes ensure people are treated with dignity and respect in an environment where bullying, harassment, discrimination and victimisation are not tolerated.

Our staff networks 

We make time to listen to our colleagues and give them a voice to share their experiences, listen to their ideas and involve them in our work. We have online communities where we discuss equalities issues, one of the most active is our disabilities group, where group members shares lived experience, good practice and ideas for improvement.

The Corporate Equality Group drives the delivery and progress of the actions from our Equality Outcomes and Mainstreaming Report. The group meets on a quarterly basis and supports the mainstreaming of equality in relation to all the protected characteristics listed under the Equality Act (2010) and is sensitive and responsive to intersectional identities.

The LGBT Charter Champion Group is a sub-group of the Corporate Equality Group. The group also meets on a quarterly basis. You can email the group using this address This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Faith Group is a self-organised group which mainly meets in our Edinburgh office. The group focuses on faith issues, faith in the workplace and encourages employees to get together as a community in a social setting. This provides an opportunity for connection and awareness raising. 

Race Equality in Employment

In November 2020 the Scottish Parliament Equality and Human Rights Committee published a report on Race Equality, Employment and Skills.  

The Public Sector Leadership Summit on Race Equality in Employment took place in March 2021. At the summit, the Scottish Parliament’s Equalities and Human Rights Committee highlighted the persistent issues that impact on outcomes for minority ethnic people in Scotland moving into, staying in and progressing in employment. 

To help us with this vital work we are pleased to be working with CEMVO Scotland.

Recommendations 

The Committee have asked all public sector bodies to accept their recommendations and commit to taking them forward. 

1. The Committee recommends those in public authority leadership positions undertake an assessment of their organisation’s understanding of racism and the structural barriers that may exist within their organisations. Public authorities should integrate their ambitions into their next strategic plan. Their strategic goal should be underpinned by specific outcomes and supported by timely monitoring. Public authorities should be transparent about their targets and their progress in delivering their outcomes.
2. The Committee recommends public authorities should review their recruitment procedures and practice against the Scottish Government’s toolkit and make the necessary changes.
3. The Committee recommends that all public authorities subject to the Scottish specific Public Sector Equality Duty should, as a minimum, voluntarily record and publish their ethnicity pay gap and produce an action plan to deliver identified outcomes.

Our commitment to the recommendations 

The Care Inspectorate pledge to implement the key recommendations of the Scottish Parliament's Equalities and Human Rights Committee’s Race Equality, Employment and Skills: Making Progress? Report.

As public sector leaders, we will be bold and transparent. We will embed the recommendations into the strategic objectives of our organisation and the performance objectives of our senior leaders. We will use equality data to provide insights on race equality within the Care Inspectorate and we will take responsibility to assess our organisation’s understanding of institutional racism and proactively challenge and change practices that disadvantage minority ethnic communities. Vitally, we will ensure that minority ethnic communities are involved in shaping this change. We recognise that taking forward the recommendations represents not a final, but a further step, and therefore this work will form part of the continuum of activity and training to tackle racial inequality in employment, which will be aligned with the key principles of the Scottish Government Race Equality Framework 2016-2030. It is important that we make this commitment clear, not just to each other, but to our staff and people who experience care, who will hold us to account. We have therefore published this commitment on our website and social media.

We are pleased to share we are a signatory of the Business in the Community Race at Work Charter. We know that ethnic minorities still face significant disparities in employment and progression, and that is something we need to change. The Charter is composed of five calls to action for leaders and organisations across all sectors.  We signed up to taking practical steps to ensure their workplaces are tackling barriers that ethnic minority people face in recruitment and progression and that their organisations are representative of British society today. 

LGBT Charter Champion Group 

We attend Pride events to increase visibility about LGBT issues and to be more proactive about being inclusive for lesbian, gay, bi and trans people as an organisation. Our commitment to inclusion and diversity, and to the LGBT community, has been recognised externally.

In 2018 we were awarded LGBT Youth Scotland’s Foundation Charter award and we are the first regulator in Scotland to receive this award. In July 2020 we were shortlisted for the Proud Scot Employer Award Large Business.

In 2020 we became a Stonewall Diversity Champion as we wanted to ensure that all LGBT staff are accepted without exception in the workplace. In February 2022 we achieved the Bronze Employer Award in the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index. In June 2022 we were delighted to be awarded the Large Employer Award by Proud Scotland.

Click here to watch a short film ‘Return to the Closet?’ by Luminate Scotland. Older members of the LGBTQI+ community worked with artist Glenda Rome to create a film which illustrated their thoughts and feelings around ageing, being part of the community and what care means to them and the support they’d want from care providers – whether at home or in care homes. Luminate commissioned the film with support from LGBT Health and Wellbeing. Luminate’s Principal Supporters are Creative Scotland, The Baring Foundation and Age Scotland. LGBT Health and Wellbeing’s LGBT Age Community Action Project is funded by Comic Relief.

First Minister’s National Advisory Council on women and girls (NACWG)

We are a circle member of the First Minister’s National Advisory Council on Women and Girls (NACWG). The NACWG was set up to advise the First Minister on what is needed to tackle gender inequality in Scotland and you can read their latest report here. We are now part of a group of supporters and advisors who help generate ideas and solutions that will inform NACWG’s work. 

Our position statement on Modern Slavery

What is Modern Slavery?

We recognise that workers recruited from overseas are a hugely valuable and important part of Scotland’s social care workforce.

Modern slavery is complex; but simply put, it describes a situation where someone is made to do something, and another person gains from this. Modern slavery is about being exploited and completely controlled by someone else, without being able to leave or belief that you cannot leave through threats by person in control. It includes
human trafficking, slavery, servitude and forced compulsory labour.

Modern slavery is the deception or coercion of a person for the purpose of exploitation.

Modern slavery can be present in any social care setting and victims could be either staff working in a service or people who are using a service.

Our strategic aim

We will constructively work with partners to end modern day slavery in Scotland’s social care system.

Our regulatory response

Our purpose is to ensure registered care services provide people with safe, high-quality care and to encourage services to improve.

We will be alert to potential cases of modern slavery and to listen sensitively and compassionately when people raise issues with us. We will respond in the following ways:

• If we receive or discover information that may indicate modern slavery, we will identify and record this threat. We will do this even if the person contacting us does not refer to it as modern slavery.
• We will refer identified and potential victims through our established safeguarding referral routes.
• We will monitor registration applications to check for warning si-gns of potential exploitation of skilled workers from overseas.
• We will seek out early indication that sponsor licenses are being exploited by working closely with Home Office and other partners.
• We will not hesitate to take action including proportionate regulatory and enforcement action where modern slavery and unethical recruitment practises pose a potential risk of harm.
• We will work with other organisations to prevent, disrupt and reduce the likelihood of modern slavery in social care.
• We will monitor the modern slavery situation by submitting reports and updates to SMG and ET quarterly or yearly.
• To support our work, we will develop staff awareness/training and procedures.

Age Scotland 

We are working with Age Scotland to support our commitment to providing an age inclusive environment where staff feel valued, respected and able to reach their full potential at all ages and stages of their career.

Carer Positive Employer 

We are a Carer Positive Established Employer and are committed to supporting our colleagues who are carers. We have recently made changes to our Carers Policy which means we offer up to five days (35 hours) paid time off to support carers.

Fair Work Framework 

The goal of the Fair Work Framework is to ensure that by 2025, people in Scotland will have a world-leading working life where fair work drives success, wellbeing and prosperity for individuals, businesses, organisations and society. 

The Care Inspectorate can support this vision by ensuring the fair work values run through the organisation and embedding fair working practices into everything we do.  We are committed to building a Scotland which champions fair work practices and a diverse workforce.

United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 

Our work also supports the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The Convention sets out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights that all children are entitled to. As a public body, we are required to publish a report on how our work supports the various articles of the UNCRC. 2020 is the first year we have been asked to report on the UNCRC. Our next report will be published in August 2023.

Contact us

If you would like to contact us, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

British Sign Language (BSL) users can contact us directly by using contactSCOTLAND-BSL.

2023: Equalities Mainstreaming Progress Report April 2021- March 2023.

Work with us

Who we are and what we do 

As the scrutiny and improvement body for social care and social work in Scotland, we exist to ensure services are of the highest quality and meet people’s needs. 

The Care Inspectorate is a dynamic and rewarding place to work.  Our staff are passionate, talented and knowledgeable with experience from a range of different backgrounds.  We share a common commitment to high-quality care and we make a real difference to people’s lives.

If you want to make a difference and champion high-quality care that meets the needs, rights and choices of people across Scotland, join us at the Care Inspectorate. 

Whatever role you have, your experience and contributions are valued, and you will be a vital part of our unique and influential organisation.

Our values are at the heart of our organisation and guide everything we do. You can find more about our values in our Strategic Workforce Plan.

Our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion 

We want future employees to understand and recognise the importance we give to equality, diversity and inclusion and we would like to attract candidates who can demonstrate this commitment too.

Please read our Equality, diversity and inclusion statement of intent.

We want to increase the diversity of our workforce. We especially welcome applications from people with disabilities, people with care experience, people from a minority ethnic background, young people, men (we currently have 79% female workforce) and people from the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans community. We want a workforce that reflects the wider Scottish population that we serve. 

As a human rights organisation, we recognise that protected characteristic groups face multiple barriers in the employment sector. We take evidence-based positive action steps to ensure our workforce (including volunteers) is diverse, inclusive and respects human rights. This aligns with the Equality Act 2010.

We invite protected characteristic groups to explore any recruitment challenges and connect with us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to arrange a meeting.

Disability confident - guaranteed interview scheme

The Care Inspectorate has achieved Disability Confident Level 2 status (The Employer Award). We are continuing to take steps to help disabled people to fulfil their potential.  

In practical terms this means, if a candidate has a disability and meets our essential criteria for a job, they are eligible through the guaranteed interview scheme and would automatically be shortlisted for interview. It also means that we will plan for, and make reasonable adjustments to, the assessment and interview process – for example, small things such as allowing candidates to complete a written test using a computer or by giving more time can make a substantial difference to how well a candidate can perform at interview. We will also make sure that people involved in the interviewing process understand the Disability Confident commitment and know how to offer and make adjustments. 

By offering an interview to an applicant who declares they have a disability may not mean that all disabled people are entitled to an interview. They must meet the minimum criteria for a job as defined by the by the Care Inspectorate. It is important to note that there may be occasions where it is not practicable or appropriate to interview all disabled people who meet the minimum criteria for a job. In certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal, and high-peak times, the Care Inspectorate may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. In these circumstances recruiting managers, may select the disabled candidates who best meet the minimum criteria for the job rather than all of those that meet the minimum criteria, as they would do for non-disabled applicants.

Our action plan will be collaborated on and shared to ensure we commit to the level 2 status. Further information about the Disability Confident Award and what this means is available on their website.

If you have a disability and require a reasonable adjustment(s) to apply for a job with us, please reach out to  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to arrange a discussion. For support with the interview process and/or during employment, please note this on your application form.

Care experienced - guaranteed interview scheme  

If you are care experienced and need support prior to applying or with the application process, please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  For support with the interview process and/or during employment, please note this on your application form. 

Minority ethnic communities

We are committed to initiatives to create organisational and cultural change around race equality and to foster an environment which encourages diversity, including anti-racism in the workplace. The Council of Ethnic Minority Voluntary Organisations (CEMVO) Scotland and a number of staff networks (including our race equality in employment group) have helped develop our race equality in employment plan.

We are keen to receive applications from people from minority ethnic communities. If any support is needed with our application and interview process, please don’t hesitate to get in touch at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Young people

We encourage applications from all ages and want a workforce that reflects the wider population that we serve.   We especially welcome applications from young people to align with our commitment to the Young Persons Guarantee in providing opportunities for young individuals to secure employment or training.   We recognise  by diversifying the age demographic within our workforce  this will contribute to building a stronger, more resilient workforce for the future and acknowledge our vital role in creating opportunities for Young People as they prepare for and take their first steps into the world of work. 

We are committed to supporting the Young Person's Guarantee and work closely with Skills Development Scotland to offer modern apprenticeships.

If you need assistance with applications or interviews, feel free to reach out to us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Awards and charters 

We are proud to have achieved a number of awards and accreditations of recognition and accomplishment. We believe that the work undertaken and time invested in attaining these awards and accreditations grows and embeds and inclusive culture within the Care Inspectorate.  These also represent our commitment to embracing best practices and our responsibility to keeping our skills and knowledge up-to-date. 

You can click here to view all of our awards and charters.

More than just a job

We’ve got a lot to offer and you’ll be joining a great team where you’ll be able to contribute right from the start. 

We’re passionate about our work and making a difference

Our expert workforce champions high-quality care and we work collaboratively with other organisations and the care sector to share good practice and support and spread improvement and innovation across Scotland.  We also use the evidence and intelligence we gather to help shape and influence local and national policy and practice. 

We value and listen to our staff so we can learn together  

We work hard to make sure everyone feels involved and appreciated, with a sense of belonging.  Learning and improvement are at the heart of what we do.  We go out of our way to listen to all of our staff and act on what they say, so we can learn and improve together.

We invest in our staff to make sure you can give your best 

If you join us as an inspector,  we will also offer you an accredited and highly respected professional qualification through our scrutiny and improvement practice development award.

We’ll make sure you fit right in 

You will be warmly welcomed and have access to a range of activities including induction to your team, the organisation and your role.  We offer a friendly and supportive place to work, where our values underpin the work we do and how we work together.  Find out more about our induction process here. 

We work hard to create a healthy working environment where your wellbeing is supported 

We encourage a healthy work-life balance.  We have a number of  policies in place that support flexible working and time off when you need it, such as  flexi-time, flexible hours, home/hybrid working, carers leave and special leave.  The vast majority of our people work flexibly and value how this supports their work-life balance.  We also offer access to a wide range of wellbeing initiatives, including specialist webinars, videos, podcasts, counselling, a listening service and access to the unmind app. 

As we open up our offices again, you’ll be able to work from home and the office, as part of our hybrid working model.

Total rewards package

We offer an excellent total rewards package – it is a comprehensive and strategic approach to employee compensation and benefits, that aligns with the Care Inspectorates’ aims. It encompasses various elements that will contribute to your overall employee experience, including compensation, benefits, work-life balance, and development.

Please see our total rewards package.

Our offices

We have offices all over Scotland.

Sign up to our enewsletter and select ‘vacancies’ as a topic of interest to stay updated with our vacancies.

Follow us on social media

Volunteering

Become a young inspection volunteer

We inspect care and social work services to make sure they are high quality and meet the needs of people who use them.  We believe we can make care better by working with people who have personal experience of care.

Our involvement and equalities charter outlines how we involve people who use care services and informal carers in our work.

If you have personal experience of using a service or you have cared for someone close who has used a service, there are many ways you can get involved with us.  You do not have to have any qualifications. You must be aged between 18-27 to apply. 

Training dates 

We are holding training on the followiung dates: 

Week 1:

• Tuesday 13 August
• Wednesday 14 August
• Thursday 15 August

Week 2:

• Wednesday 21 August
• Thursday 22 August

Applicants must be available to attend all training dates. 

How to apply

You can apply to become a young inspection volunteer by completing our application form:

• online (Microsoft Forms)
• by printing a paper copy (PDF) and posting it to Participation and Equalities Team, Compass House, 11 Riverside Drive, Dundee, DD1 4NY
• or we can support you to submit an application. 

For more information you can download our information leaflet.

Hear what some of our young inspection volunteers said below.

If you would like to find out more about becoming a young inspection volunteer, need help to complete the application form or would like us to post you an application form - please email Julie Brown at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

About us

The Care Inspectorate is a scrutiny body which supports improvement. That means we look at the quality of care in Scotland to ensure it meets high standards. Where we find that improvement is needed, we support services to make positive changes.

Our vision is that everyone experiences safe, high-quality care that meets their needs, rights and choices.

Our 600 staff work across Scotland, specialising in health and social care, early learning and childcare, social work, children’s services, and community justice.

Find an office near you.

Meet our Board and our senior leadership team.

We inspect individual care services

We register more than 11,000 registered care services in Scotland and our inspectors visit every one. Higher-risk services are inspected more often. Our inspectors talk to people using the service, staff and managers. We want to make sure that people experience high-quality care, and that care services are making a positive impact on people’s lives, based on their needs, rights and choices.

We give care services grades when we inspect them, and look at key areas like care and support, physical environment, quality of staffing, and quality of management and leadership. Each area of each care service is assessed on a scale from 1 to 6, where 1 in unsatisfactory and 6 is excellent. After every inspection, we publish an inspection report showing our findings, which is helpful if you are using service or thinking of doing so.

We inspect how care is provided across areas

We work with other scrutiny and improvement bodies to look at how local authorities, community planning partnerships and health and social care partnerships are delivering a range of services in their communities across Scotland. These inspections look at how well services are working together to support positive experiences and outcomes for people. This helps partnerships understand what is working well, and what needs to improve. You can read our joint inspection reports here.

Supporting improvement and driving up standards

Our job is not just to inspect care, but help the quality improve where needed. This means we work with services and support them, offering advice, guidance and sharing good practice to help care reach the highest standards. You can find lots of advice for care professionals on our dedicated website, The Hub.

We want everyone to experience high-quality care that meets their individual needs. Scotland’s Health and Social Care Standards describe what people should expect from care. The Standards are what we refer to when we are assessing how well care is performing.

What if things are not good enough?

If we find that care isn’t good enough, we take action. We can make recommendations for improvement and issue requirements for change and check these have happened. If a care service doesn’t improve, we can carry out enforcement action including, as a last resort, closing it down subject to the decision of a sheriff.

If you think a care service isn’t good enough you can share your concern or make a complaint to us. Find out more about concerns and complaints here.

The Scottish Regulators’ Strategic Code of Practice

The Care Inspectorate is required by the Regulatory Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 to follow the Scottish Regulators’ Strategic Code. The Code is issued by the Scottish Ministers and sets out the approaches we should take in dealing with those we regulate. We comply with the requirements of the Code in all that we do, ensuring that we always prioritise the safety, health and wellbeing of vulnerable people over commercial or business interests. 

Care services in Scotland must be registered with the Care Inspectorate and a broad range of the individuals who work in those services must be registered with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC).  You can find more information about the SSSC on their website.