Open Market Shared Equity Scheme (OMSE): equality impact assessment

Executive summary

The Open Market Shared Equity Scheme (OMSE) is a Scottish Government shared equity scheme that helps eligible buyers on low to moderate incomes to purchase a home where this is sensible and sustainable for them to do so.

At the request of Scottish Ministers, a policy change was implemented which changed the specific groups who are able to access OMSE for financial year 2025/26. As of 1 April 2025, the funding available for OMSE is now targeted at those most in need of support, namely priority access groups including disabled applicants and social renters. Supporting social renters to make the transition to affordable home ownership will help free up social rented accommodation and which in turn could help families move out of temporary accommodation. The priority access groups are:

• people aged 60 and over
• social renters (people who rent from the council or a housing association)
• disabled people
• members of the armed forces
• veterans who have left the armed forces within the past two years
• widows, widowers and other partners of service personnel for up to two years after their partner has lost their life while serving.

The policy contributes to the following national outcomes:

• We live in communities that are inclusive, empowered, resilient and safe.
• We tackle poverty by sharing opportunities, wealth and power more equally

The nine protected characteristics considered as part of this EQIA were; age, disability, sex, pregnancy and maternity, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, and religion or belief.

This Equality Impact assessment has considered the potential effects of OMSE on groups with these protected characteristics. This analysis is presented below in the Key Findings section. The findings are based on desk-based research and work carried out by the Communities Analysis Division.

Based on the available evidence, we believe that the scheme is unlikely to have a negative impact on some of the equalities groups - in fact it has a positive impact on most of these groups by improving opportunities to purchase a home.

A potential negative impact identified was that some lone parents could become ineligible for the support as a result of first-time buyers becoming ineligible. On average lone parents have lower incomes than dual parent households which may make it more difficult for them to access home ownership. Similarly, the 35 and under age group may also be affected with the removal of first-time buyers. However, the reduction in access to the scheme has not been targeted to exclude lone parents, lone parents are still eligible to apply should they fall into the priority access group categories. First-time buyers are also eligible to apply for the scheme so long as they fall into one of the priority access groups.

This impact is mitigated by the New Supply Shared Equity Scheme (NSSE) as lone parents and first-time buyers will still be able to access NSSE.