Low-paid ethnic minority workers in health and social care during COVID-19: A rapid review

This report was commissioned by the Equality and Human Rights Commission to support a statutory inquiry under Section 16 and Schedule 2 of the Equality Act 2006 looking into the treatment of ethnic minority workers in low-paid roles (which may also be insecure and precarious) prior to and during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. There are long-standing concerns of inequalities in the workplace among ethnic minority workers in the health and social care sectors in Britain. Understanding the barriers and constraints to positive work outcomes for ethnic minority workers is essential to design evidence-based policy recommendations and interventions to ensure equality in the workplace and beyond. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) inquiry into racial inequality in health and social care workplaces aims to gather timely evidence to formulate policy and practice recommendations to enhance outcomes for ethnic minority low-paid workers. This rapid review forms one part of the evidence base. The review aims to gather existing evidence on the work experiences and outcomes of ethnic minority workers in health and adult social care (ASC) across England, Scotland and Wales. In particular, it focuses on those that are low paid. The analysis presented in this report is based on a rapid review of evidence, since 2017, from the UK and Britain, with attempts to separate findings related to England, Wales and Scotland. However, the majority of the identified literature reported on experiences from the UK as a whole, or more specifically in England. There was only one specific to Scotland and one focused on Wales. Publications used a variety of methods; including qualitative approaches, surveys, analysis of existing data or a mixture of methods.This report covers both the health and adult social care sectors in Britain. However, the two sectors have some distinctive features that have implications for the workforce’s structure, arrangements, and the delivery of health and care services. These differences are noted and taken into account in the analysis and interpretations of results