3. Ensuring effective regulatory and policy environment

Understand legal obligations

Taking independent legal advice and seeking guidance as appropriate

You could:

Make sure you understand and comply with key legal requirements and regulations
Make sure you understand your responsibilities under equality and/or human rights legislation
Implement equality impact assessment processes for all policies and major decisions
Use impact assessment findings to improve policy design and outcomes
Stay updated on developing legislation

Suggested Priority: High | Suggested Timeframe: Short (1-2 years) and ongoing

Priority levels

High priority: Essential actions that form the foundation for equality and human rights mainstreaming
Medium priority: Important actions that build on foundational work
Low priority: Beneficial actions for advanced implementation

Timeframes

Short (1-2 years): Actions that can be implemented relatively quickly
Medium (2-5 years): Actions requiring more extensive planning and resources
Ongoing: Actions that should continue throughout your mainstreaming journey

3A. Understand legal obligations resources

Showing 106 results

Development

Addressing racial inequality in the workplace – Read more

A guidance page for employers on the ethnicity pay and employment gaps faced by racialised minorities in Scotland. It sets out the legal context, the barriers people face in recruitment and progression, and practical actions employers can take including anonymised sifts, diverse panels, inclusive communication, and positive action.
Development

Human Rights Tracker (Scotland) – Read more

The Human Rights Tracker is an online tool that brings together over 500 recommendations from six UN human rights treaty bodies into one accessible platform. It allows users to search, filter and understand recommendations by theme, human rights issue, affected group, instrument and reporting cycle, helping to improve transparency and support scrutiny of human rights progress in Scotland.
Development

Strategic Integrated Impact Assessment (SIIA) for Scottish Budget 2026-27, Spending Review 2026 and Infrastructure Delivery Pipeline 2026 – Read more

The Strategic Integrated Impact Assessment (SIIA) brings together all the required equality, fairness, children’s rights, consumer and island communities duties into one assessment. It explains how key tax and spending decisions affect different groups, including people with protected characteristics, children, low‑income households and island communities. The assessment is based on a wide range of evidence, including distributional analysis, stakeholder input and lived‑experience evidence gathered through pilot studies, engagement with children and young people, and analysis of priority groups.
Development

Rights-based approach to waste management in the Highlands – Read more

A case study describing how Highland Council applied a Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment when proposing changes to its waste and recycling collection system. It covers how the process identified potential negative impacts on families with young children, children with disabilities, and larger families, and how mitigations were built into the resulting Household Waste and Recycling Policy.
Advanced

Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment in East Lothian Council – Read more

A case study describing how East Lothian Council developed and embedded a Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) within its existing Integrated Impact Assessment framework. It covers the development of guidance and templates, a mandatory training module, screening processes, and the challenges of embedding children’s rights across non-traditional service areas such as transport and waste.
Advanced

Integrated Impact Assessment by South Ayrshire Council – Read more

A short case study describing South Ayrshire Council’s development of an Integrated Impact Assessment tool that incorporates a Children’s Rights Impact Assessment alongside other cross-cutting agendas including child poverty and trauma-informed practice. A linked video provides further detail. Useful for councils looking to develop an integrated approach to impact assessments.
Development

Equality Act 2010 – Read more

This guide explains what the Equality Act 2010 is, who it protects and what it does. The Equality Act 2010 was introduced in England, Scotland, and Wales to simplify equality law in Great Britain. This guide explains the implications of the Equality Act 2010 for employers.
Development

Dress Codes and Uniforms – Read more

This guide explores the topic of appearance at work. It offers guidance about what to consider before implementing or reviewing your dress code policy and suggests steps you can take to make sure it is as inclusive as possible. This guidance is designed to help you recognise areas of risk and find initiative-taking policies that can be associated with a sensitive and practical approach to writing a dress code policy.

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Understand legal obligations

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Understanding priorities and timeframes

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Timeframes

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Implementation Levels

Prior Knowledge Required

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PSED Needs

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3A. Understand legal obligations resources

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Information

You could:

Understanding priorities and timeframes

Priority levels

Timeframes

Search

Filter by

Content Types

Key Drivers

Implementation Levels

Prior Knowledge Required

Organisation Size

Sector

Role

PSED Needs

Protected Characteristics

3A. Understand legal obligations resources

Was this page helpful?

Was this page helpful?

Was this page helpful?

Was this page helpful?