Scottish-government

The Scottish government has announced that it will award its employees a minimum consolidated pay increase of 3% for 2019.

Some employees will receive a higher pay award due to progression payments, while staff earning the maximum available wage will gain an additional 1% non-consolidated payment.

The pay deal was agreed with trade unions Prospect, the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) and the FDA, which represents managers and professionals working within public services.

Prospect expects the pay rise to be effective from July 2019, including backdated pay from April 2019.

Richard Hardy, negotiator at Prospect, said: “We’ve expressed on numerous occasions our disappointment about the failure to make a real start on pay restoration for staff employed at Scottish government, but we recognise that there are constraints on what the Scottish government can afford.

“However, this pay rise at least ensures that members do not fall further behind in real wage terms and represents another substantial improvement over what our members employed by Westminster will receive. This is another indication of the influence of unions in Scotland.”