Care Home Services (Visits to and by Care Home Residents) (Scotland) Regulations 2026: equality impact assessment
An equality impact assessment undertaken to consider and assess the impacts of the Care Home Services (Visits to and by Care Home Residents) (Scotland) Regulations 2026.
Executive summary
Policy aim
The regulations are introduced under section 14 of the Care Reform (Scotland) Act 2025.
Under existing arrangements, care home residents have a care plan that normally identifies regular visitors, often referred to as ‘named visitors’. The new regulations will require care homes to ensure that each resident is able to nominate at least one individual (usually one of the named visitors) as their identify at least one as an Essential Care Supporter for each resident, unless doing so would be contrary to the resident’s wishes, or no individual can be identified.
EQIA scope The EQIA considered all the protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010, alongside the three Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) needs. The assessment combines analysis of national statistics (e.g. the Care Home Census), consultation responses, and qualitative evidence from stakeholder engagement. Evidence was gathered through an online survey, including organisational responses.
Key findings
The process identified potential positive impacts, and confirmed that the policy applied to all the protected characteristic groups.