Fair Work Action Plan: indicator report 2026

Annex C: Details of indicators where data challenges remain

There are a number of indicators which we are unable to report on due to data challenges. These are outlined below and are grouped by Medium-term outcome. Details on the current position of this indicator, as at September 2026 have been provided as well as whether data from Scotland’s Census 2022 can be used to provide a snapshot until more data becomes available.

Fair Work is embedded in the public sector

Public sector employment by disability and ethnicity

• Breakdowns of public sector employment by disability and ethnicity are not available from ONS Annual Population Survey due to data quality issues.
• While not directly comparable, Scotland’s Census 2022 has breakdowns of the Public Administration, Education and Health sector for disability and ethnicity. These are included in this report.

Percentage of public sector employers publishing pay gaps and action plans for gender, ethnicity and disability

• This is a data gap as there is no collated single source of information. The information on gender pay gaps and action plans is published by individual bodies who are subject to PSED requirements but not collated. Reporting for ethnicity and disability is voluntary. This is also not collated.
• This information is not available from the census.
• This information is not available from the census.

Fair Work is embedded in public sector financial support

Number of grants awarded that include a Fair Work First criteria

• A Scottish Government grant spend database has recently been introduced, though this does not extend to the wider public sector. Some partial information around the application of Fair Work First to grant funds and real Living Wage exceptions is captured in this database, and Fair Work officials intend to draw from this to understand Fair Work First application within the Scottish Government. Meantime, partial data from both the Scottish Government and wider public sector has been manually collected, and this is provided.

Employers are supported to offer Fair Work

Percentage of employees earning the real Living Wage by Fair Work Agreement Sectors

• Estimates of the proportion of people (18+) earning the real living wage or more by industry sector (SIC sections) from the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings have been presented.
• This information is not available from the census.

Trade Union Membership in Fair Work Sectors

• The Trade Union Membership estimates for Scotland are taken from the ONS Labour Force Survey. While it is possible to provide data at Scotland level using this source, it is not possible to provide the estimates for the specific Fair Work sectors due to data quality issues.
• This information is not available from the census.

People are supported to prepare for, access, and sustain Fair Work

Disability and ethnicity pay gaps

• Due to data quality issues with the ONS Annual Population Survey, it is not possible to provide the disability and minority ethnic pay gaps for Scotland for the latest years.
• This information is not available from the census.

Intersectional employment rate gaps (Disabled/ ethnicity employment gap for women)

• Due to data quality issues with the ONS Annual Population Survey, it is currently not possible to provide breakdowns of intersectional employment rate gaps for Scotland.
• The census contains information on employment by disability, ethnicity and sex. However, data on employment rate gaps are not readily available.

Occupational segregation

• As discussed in the Scottish Government’s quality assessment of the ONS Labour Force Survey and Annual Population Survey data for Scotland^[25], occupational segregation data is not currently available.
• Scotland’s Census 2022 has data for occupational segregation breakdowns by sex, ethnicity and disability. These are included in this report.