How Social Care Wales built a Board that reflects the diversity of Wales’s social care and early years sectors.
Background
Social Care Wales with Welsh Government set out to build a Board that truly reflects the diversity of Wales’s social care and early years sectors. This case study shares how we achieved that through inclusive recruitment, partnership and cultural change.
Why representation matters
Our Board provides strategic leadership for social care in Wales, ensuring we meet statutory duties and Welsh Government priorities. Diverse perspectives strengthen governance, enrich debate and help decisions reflect the communities we serve. We are proud of the diversity on our Register of more than 65,000 social care workers in Wales, as well as the diverse users of care and support they support daily. Having a representative Board is critically important to ensure we make a positive difference to care and support in Wales for all children, adults, and their families and carers.
Our journey
When Social Care Wales was established in 2017, we had the rare opportunity to recruit a new Board from scratch. Working with Welsh Government, we introduced values-based recruitment and accessible processes, replacing traditional interviews with exercises that tested collaboration and ethical decision-making. We hosted open events, shared videos to humanise the process and encouraged informal contact with the Board Secretary. This approach built a Board recognised nationally for inclusive practice in the Lord Holmes Review (2018).
By 2023, we renewed our focus. While our Board was diverse in sex, disability and lived experience, ethnic diversity remained underrepresented. With 12 members reaching the end of their terms, we saw an opportunity to go further. Our Chair and Chief Executive led a recruitment process designed not just to fill vacancies, but to build confidence and visibility among underrepresented communities. We took a conscious decision to do things differently to achieve different results and challenge our own thinking.
What we did differently
We strengthened outreach and engagement by partnering with networks such as Community Housing Cymru’s Pathway to Board, Welsh Government’s Public Leaders of the Future, Equal Power Equal Voice and the Future Generations Commissioner’s Alumni Network. These links helped us extend our reach and credibility.
We reviewed all materials for inclusivity, using plain English and Cymraeg clir, and made it clear that previous Board experience wasn’t required. Our Chair recorded a short video explaining why different perspectives matter. Evening briefing sessions offered practical advice and demystified the process.
Assessment centres were designed to be welcoming and accessible. We shared interview questions in advance to support fairness and reasonable adjustments, including for neurodivergent candidates. Interviews focused on values rather than status, prioritising integrity, collaboration and understanding of equality, diversity and inclusion.
Impact
The 2024–2025 campaign attracted 86 applicants, including 17 disabled people and 17 from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds. Together with Welsh Government, we developed a fair scoring process that allowed bias to be openly challenged. Candidates from minority ethnic backgrounds performed strongly, with several ranking among the highest.
The minister appointed 12 new members, creating one of Wales’s most diverse Boards. It now includes a balance of men and women, a range of ages, ethnicities and lived experience, alongside expertise from social work, health, academia, community leadership and business.
As part of our commitment to leadership diversity, we joined Welsh Government’s Job Shadowing Scheme under the Reflecting and Running Wales – Diversity and Inclusion Strategy for Public Appointments, offering governance experience to individuals from minority backgrounds.
These outcomes were the results of a combined approach: extensive outreach and inclusive design of assessment centres.
Voices from the Board
Katija Dew, appointed in April 2025, reflects:
“Representation matters – it brings different perspectives to decision-making and shows leadership roles are open to all. The inclusive approach throughout recruitment demonstrated a genuine commitment to fairness.
Following appointment, induction sessions and ongoing collective learning have reinforced inclusion and supported members to contribute confidently”
What we learned
Building diversity takes time, planning and cultural change. Senior ownership, flexibility within the public appointments framework and sustained engagement were critical. Our experience shows the value of prioritising skills and values over status, and creating an enabling organisational culture. Inclusion doesn’t end at recruitment; it is sustained through accessible induction, ongoing cultural work and open conversations about support needs.
Next steps
Through leadership, innovation and partnership, we’ve built a Board that reflects the communities we serve. Equality, diversity and inclusion remain an ongoing responsibility, not a one-off initiative.
Find out more
To find out more please contact llinos.bradbury@socialcare.wales.