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Policy

Public sector pay

From
Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government
Directorate
Public Spending Directorate
Topic
Money and tax, Public sector, Scottish Budget
Overview

Scottish Ministers make the decisions on pay for most public sector staff in Scotland. Their decisions are published in the annual public sector pay policy, which is usually announced as part of the draft Budget.

We published the Public sector pay policy 2024 to 2025 in May 2024. See our collection of public sector pay documents for earlier versions.

Actions

Under the public sector pay policy, we:

  • set the framework for pay for staff in public sector bodies through the pay policy for staff pay remits
  • set the framework for pay of chief executives and the daily fees for public appointments through the pay policy for senior appointments
  • consider and approve pay proposals via the Remuneration Group
  • ensure pay transparency by disclosing the salaries of senior public sector staff

Background

The annual public sector pay policy covers:

  • the pay of the Scottish Government's core directorates and its associated departments, agencies, non-departmental public bodies, public corporations and NHS Scotland senior managers (grades A to C)
  • remuneration proposals for chief executives, NHS executives and senior managers (grades D to I)
  • the daily fees paid to chairs and members appointed by Scottish Ministers to public bodies

Where UK pay review bodies operate, Scottish Ministers will make decisions in the light of these pay review bodies' recommendations.

Some public sector pay groups are not governed by our public sector pay policy. We have published a list of organisations governed by other pay arrangements.

Equality impact assessments

We are committed to ensuring that public sector pay is fair and non-discriminatory. Since financial year 2013 to 2014, we have published a summary Equality Impact Assessment for each year's public sector pay policy:

Chief Executive framework review

During the 2023-24 Scottish Budget, the Deputy First Minister announced a review of the Chief Executive Framework. The review has now concluded and the Chief Executive Framework Review report published. The Chief Executive Framework section of the Public Sector Pay Policy Technical Guide has been updated to implement the recommendations set out in the report.

A severance policy for Scotland

We also have responsibility for severance policy, covering governance arrangements for all settlement agreements and severance schemes. The Severance Policy for Scotland is set out in the Scottish Public Finance Manual. The severance policy has a wider reach than the pay strategy. Please see list of public bodies that Severance Policy applies to.

Contact

Email: financepaypolicy@gov.scot

Post:
Finance Pay Policy
Scottish Government
Area 3-C north
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ

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