Introduction: A New Era for Social Care Commissioning
The Guidance on Social Care Procurement published by the Scottish Government and COSLA marks an important step in shifting how social care is commissioned and delivered. By explicitly recognizing human rights as a central element of procurement and commissioning, the guidance helps move the sector away from a narrow focus on cost and compliance toward a holistic approach grounded in dignity, respect, and meaningful outcomes for people who use services.
Why Human Rights Matter in Social Care Procurement
Social care is fundamentally about supporting people to live the lives they value. When commissioning decisions are framed through a human rights lens, they prioritise autonomy, participation, equality, and respect for private and family life. This changes the questions commissioners ask, the evidence they seek, and the standards they expect from providers.
Instead of concentrating only on inputs and unit prices, a rights-based approach encourages a focus on whether individuals are able to exercise choice and control, feel safe, stay connected to their communities, and access culturally appropriate, person-centred support. This alignment between human rights and commissioning priorities helps ensure that procurement processes do not inadvertently undermine the very values social care exists to uphold.
Key Principles Reflected in the Guidance
The Scottish Guidance on Social Care Procurement highlights several core principles that, when implemented, embed human rights into everyday commissioning practice. These principles apply across the commissioning cycle, from strategic planning to service review.
1. Dignity and Respect at the Heart of Commissioning
Commissioning that respects human dignity looks beyond basic service provision to the quality and character of support. Specifications and contracts are framed to ensure that services foster independence, respond to personal preferences, and protect individuals from degrading or discriminatory treatment. This includes consideration of privacy, personal relationships, and the right to be involved in decisions about one’s own care and support.
2. Participation and Co-Production
A rights-based interpretation of the guidance emphasises participation: people with lived experience of social care should be actively involved in shaping commissioning priorities and service models. Co-production means working alongside supported people, carers, and communities to design, monitor, and improve services, rather than consulting them as an afterthought.
3. Non-Discrimination and Equality
Human rights principles require that services are accessible and responsive to everyone, regardless of age, disability, gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, or socio-economic status. The guidance encourages commissioners to consider how procurement decisions can tackle inequalities, remove barriers to access, and ensure that diverse needs are recognised and met in practice.
4. Accountability and Transparency
Embedding human rights into commissioning also strengthens accountability. Clear expectations around rights-respecting practice, alongside transparent monitoring and review arrangements, help ensure that providers deliver services that align with agreed standards. Commissioners are encouraged to use outcome-focused measures that reflect people’s lived experiences rather than relying solely on numerical indicators.
Integrating Human Rights Across the Commissioning Cycle
For the guidance to make a tangible difference, human rights must be considered at every stage of the commissioning cycle: strategic needs assessment, planning, procurement, contracting, and review. Each stage offers opportunities to embed rights-based thinking and to promote better outcomes for people who use services.
Strategic Planning and Needs Assessment
At the planning stage, commissioners can use human rights frameworks to guide how they assess local needs and set priorities. This might involve analysing data on who is not accessing services, exploring why certain groups experience poorer outcomes, and engaging directly with communities to understand how current arrangements support or restrict people’s rights.
Service Design and Market Shaping
Human rights considerations should shape the design of service models and the development of the local care market. Commissioners can encourage flexible, community-based provision that supports choice and control, rather than rigid, task-focused services. Market-shaping activities can promote providers who demonstrate commitment to rights-based practice, fair work, and continuous improvement.
Procurement and Tendering
When it comes to formal procurement, the guidance points towards more balanced evaluation criteria that consider quality, rights, and outcomes alongside cost. Tender documents can explicitly reference human rights standards, requiring bidders to show how they will safeguard autonomy, privacy, and participation. Evaluation panels can include people with lived experience, adding valuable insights on what good, rights-respecting care looks like in reality.
Contracting, Monitoring, and Review
Contracts can embed human rights into service expectations, performance indicators, and improvement plans. Monitoring arrangements should gather information directly from people using services and from frontline staff, capturing both positive and negative experiences. Regular reviews can then identify where changes are needed to better uphold rights, adjust capacity, or refine service models.
Practical Ways to Embed Human Rights in Procurement
While high-level principles are essential, practitioners also need practical approaches to make human rights meaningful in everyday commissioning work. The guidance supports local areas to translate rights language into tangible actions.
Outcome-Focused Specifications
Writing service specifications around outcomes rather than tasks or time slots allows for greater flexibility and personalisation. Outcomes can be framed in ways that reflect human rights, such as maintaining family relationships, participating in community life, or having control over daily routines and environment.
Human Rights-Informed Evaluation Criteria
Evaluation criteria can explicitly reference human rights values. For instance, bidders may be asked to provide evidence of how they support decision-making for people with impaired capacity, how they address cultural and linguistic needs, or how they ensure that individuals can raise concerns without fear of reprisal.
Building Capability Among Commissioners and Providers
Meaningful implementation requires ongoing learning. Training, peer networks, and reflective practice can help commissioners and providers develop shared language and understanding of what a human rights approach looks like in commissioning and frontline delivery. Over time, this builds a culture where rights are not an add-on but the starting point for all decisions.
The Wider Impact: Culture Change in Social Care
The inclusion of human rights in national guidance signals a broader culture change within social care. It acknowledges that financial pressures and system constraints must not override people’s fundamental rights. Instead, budgets, contracts, and performance measures need to be aligned with the goal of enabling people to live good, ordinary lives in their communities.
This shift also strengthens trust between individuals, communities, and public bodies. When people see that their rights are taken seriously throughout the commissioning process, they are more likely to engage, share feedback, and collaborate in shaping better support.
Looking Ahead: Sustaining Progress
The guidance provides a strong foundation, but its impact will depend on how consistently it is applied and reviewed. Ongoing dialogue between the Scottish Government, COSLA, local partnerships, providers, and people who use services will be crucial. By treating human rights as a practical framework for decision-making rather than a purely legal concept, commissioning bodies can continue to refine and strengthen their approach.
Ultimately, embedding human rights in social care procurement is about ensuring that every commissioning decision, from the design of local care markets to the details of individual contracts, contributes to a system where people are supported to live with dignity, autonomy, and connection.