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Loading …Unions have lodged their claims for an increase in pay for local government staff in Scotland this year.
UNISON has called for a 6.5% rise in 2025-26, while the GMB and Unite have jointly urged an increase of £1 per hour, or 6.5%, whichever is greater, along with more annual leave for staff.
The proposed rises are comfortably above the rate of inflation, which was 2.5% in the year to December 2024, according to the government’s preferred consumer prices index (CPI) measure (source: Office for National Statistics). The CPIH measure, which, unlike CPI, includes the housing costs of owner occupiers, was 3.5% as of last month.
‘Severe erosion of pay’
However, UNISON said an above-inflation deal was necessary to address “the severe erosion of pay” in local government in Scotland in recent years and ensure staff were fairly compensated.
It also said this year’s pay settlement needed to address “growing recruitment and retention problems across councils”, claiming that staff were “increasingly compelled to leave, and vacancies [were] becoming harder to fill” because of the “declining value of pay”.
Council pay in Scotland is negotiated through the Scottish Joint Council for Local Government Employees (SJC), which comprises representatives from the three unions, the 32 councils and employers’ body COSLA.
2024-25 pay rise
In 2024-25, staff were given a rise of 3.6% or 67p per hour – whichever was higher – after COSLA increased its initial offer with the help of a cash injection from the Scottish Government. This was above the CPI inflation rate (2.3%) at the time of the settlement.
Though the deal was accepted by Unite and the GMB – enabling COSLA to implement it – it was initially rejected by UNISON, which took strike action in schools in protest, before finally agreeing to the settlement.
Unite and GMB said their priority for the deal was moving towards the objective – shared by COSLA – of achieving a £15 an hour minimum wage in Scottish local government, up from the current £12.56. That explains why it included a flat-rate element to its claim – the proposed rise of £1 an hour – which would benefit the lowest paid.
Scottish Government budget settlement
According to the Scottish Government, annual revenue funding for local authorities in Scotland is due to rise by about £1bn, to £15bn, in 2025-26. Of this, £289m of the increase being available to authorities to spend on meeting local needs, and the rest committed to particular services or schemes.
COSLA said the budget was “step in the right direction” but warned that it “may not be enough to reverse planned cuts to vital services”.
In relation to pay, COSLA said that a 1% increase in pay would cost councils £125m in 2025-26, with a 3% rise – less than half of what the unions are claiming – wiping out the £289m in increased resource.
Social work and social care staff shortages
It also said the budget did not “provide sufficient funding to improve social care and social work capacity”, and enable councils and providers to “attract and retain a skilled and supported workforce”.
This was in the context of 97% of authorities having reported social care staffing shortages and 90% social worker shortages in a 2023 survey carried out by the Society of Personnel and Development Scotland and council leadership body Solace.
COSLA told Community Care that the SJC would meet later in January and in February to discuss the unions’ pay claims and councils’ budgetary position. Over the same period, Scottish council leaders would meet to agree their negotiating position.
“We have still to receive pay claims from some of our unions within our chief officials and teaching negotiation groups. In addition, at this time of year, council budgets are still being worked on and finalised,” a COSLA spokesperson added.
