Integration Joint Board confirms care experience as protected characteristic
Falkirk’s health and social care services will now recognise people who are currently in care, or have previously been in care, as having a protected characteristic – applying the same principles of the Equality Act.
Members of the Integration Joint Board have agreed to add care experience as a protected characteristic, following in the footsteps of Falkirk Council and several other local authorities in Scotland.
Care experience will now join the nine legally protected characteristics which Falkirk Health and Social Care Partnership and its Board use to assess whether its services are working to address inequalities.
The move also follows the integration of Children’s Social Work and Justice Social Work into the Partnership earlier this year, which frequently support young people and adults who have experience of care.
Gemma from Falkirk Champs, a group of care experienced young people working to make positive change in the system, said: “We are so pleased to know that local health and social care services will now also consider the needs of people who have experience of care.
Another young Falkirk Champ added: “It’s great to know that we have been heard! We deserve to be loved, cared for, and respected like other people with protected characteristics We hope this will help other local authorities’ join Falkirk in recognising our needs.”
How will this improve decision-making?
The Partnership’s Equality and Poverty Impact Assessments will now assess whether proposals impact upon people with care experience. This will also help identify any required mitigating actions. The impact assessments are used to inform decisions made by the Integration Joint Board, allowing the Partnership to think about the potential impact of service change on people who have a protected characteristic, such as age, disability, pregnancy, or religious belief.
What does it mean to be care experienced?
The term care experienced refers to anyone who has been or is currently in care from a looked after background at any stage of their life, no matter how short. They may have been looked after in foster care, kinship care, residential care or at home with family, being supervised by social work services.
Why is it so important to add care experience to the list of protected characteristics?
Through no fault of their own, care experienced people are:
- almost twice as likely to have no internet at home
- likely to earn three quarters of the salaries of their peers
- more than twice as likely to have experienced homelessness
- over twice as likely to have no and less than half the chance of having a degree
- over one and a half times more likely to experience severe multiple disadvantage
- over three times as likely to have not had a full-time job by age 26
All Partnership and IJB Equality and Poverty Impact Assessments are published on our Equalities webpage.