Watchdog issues guidance for social care commissioners in Wales on meeting legal duties under public sector equality duty

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The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has published new guidance for social care commissioners in Wales on compliance with the Public Sector Equality Duty, after evidence provided by the watchdog’s Wales Committee showed “alarming patterns” of inequality affecting those who need care and those who provide it.

Details: 15.Jul.2025

The Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) is part of the Equality Act 2010 and requires public authorities to have “due regard” to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations.

The guidance, published last week (9 July), addresses findings from the EHRC's ‘Is Wales Fairer?’ report and an inquiry into the treatment of lower-paid ethnic minority workers, which revealed “significant inequalities” in both service provision and workforce treatment.

According to the EHRC, the guidance offers commissioners “practical strategies for leveraging procurement powers to drive equality improvements through contractual requirements”.

Key features include:

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practical advice on applying the PSED at each stage of the commissioning cycle
tools for embedding equality considerations in procurement processes
strategies to address specific inequalities, including those facing ethnic minority workers and disabled service users
guidance on setting SMART objectives and measuring outcomes
real-world examples showing how commissioners can use procurement to promote equality.

The resource is built around the Commission’s nine guiding principles for social care, which emphasise availability, accessibility, person-centred care, choice and control, community connection, effective redress, robust regulation, support for unpaid carers, and a valued workforce with fair pay and treatment.

The guidance notes there are specific PSED duties in Wales that are a requirement for commissioners in how they undertake their role to support a public body in meeting the general duty.

These include:

Engagement: Engage with people with protected characteristics and / or people who represent protected groups and have an interest in how care homes function, to understand the full range of needs of a community;
Assessing impact: Assess and publish the impact of proposed policies and practices and monitor these impacts to better understand the likely or actual effect of policies and practices on care users and social care workers with different protected characteristics;
Equality information: Use relevant equality information to make sure equality related evidence is embedded into all work;
Procurement: Ensure procurement is subject to the procurement regulations and principles that aim to certify equal treatment between tenderers, proportionality, openness and transparency to make sure all staff can consider the general and specific duties in their work;
Objective setting: While objective setting is a requirement on public bodies and not necessarily applicable to officers within an authority, we recommend that setting clear and SMART objectives, informed by engagement and evidence, will help to ensure that the action you take to address inequalities through commissioning is focused and targeted.

The Interim Chair of the EHRC’s Wales Committee, Martyn Jones, said: “Our evidence shows alarming patterns of inequality affecting both those who need care and those who provide it. Ethnic minority care workers face discrimination and poorer working conditions, while vulnerable groups report distressing experiences within care settings.

"By considering equality at every stage of the commissioning cycle, we can transform lives. Our guidance gives commissioners the practical tools they need to embed equality and human rights into decisions, which will help improve outcomes for both service users and the social care workforce.”

Lottie Winson