Public sector pay policy costing: FOI release

Information requested

“I would like to make a freedom of information request of the Scottish Government concerning the estimated cost of their public sector pay policy announced in the Scottish Budget, with specific breakdowns for public sector industries and estimated costs for the minimum pay and the uplifts in each earnings bracket.”

Response

The pay policy applies directly to staff within the Scottish Government, Agencies, Non-Departmental Public Bodies, NHS Scotland Executive and Senior Management posts and Ministerial Appointments. A full list of public bodies to which the pay policy applies here.

The policy also acts as a reference point for all major public sector workforce groups across Scotland including NHS Scotland , fire-fighters, police officers, teachers and further education workers. For local government employees, pay and other employment matters are delegated to local authorities.

The following table summarises the estimated cost if the 2022-23 Public Sector Pay Policy were to be applied across each of the public sector workforces (link: Public sector pay policy 2022-23).

Estimated cost of applying 2022-23 pay policy to all staff in devolved workforces in Scotland (1)(2)

Threshold	All employees earning below £25K	All employees earning between £25K-£40K	All employees earning above £40K	Total for all employees
Basic Pay increase	£775	£700	£500
Workforce	£m	£m	£m	£m
Public Bodies Subject to Pay Policy	9	20	9	39
NHS	52	53	30	136
Teachers	-	15	29	44
Police Officers	-	6	8	14
Fire	2	4	0	6
Further Education Colleges	3	3	3	9
Local Government (Non-Teaching staff (3))	41	89	6	135
Total (£m)	107	190	86	382

Costs may not add to the Total due to rounding
(1) The cost of basic award increases includes estimated employer on-costs.
(2) The cost of introducing the £10.50 wage floor is estimated to be around £1.2m, £6m and £2.1m for those working in the public bodies directly covered by the pay policy, Health and Further Education respectively. However, this cost is covered by applying the £775 increase set out in the 2022-23 public sector pay policy. The minimum pay rates for Teachers, Fire and Police are all currently above a £10.50 hourly rate. For Local Government, a significant proportion of the cost of the £10.50 wage floor would be offset by applying the £775 pay policy increase.
(3) Includes estimated costs for directly employed Social Care staff.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.