Interest earned by the NHS Agenda for Change 2022/23 Pay Award: FOI release

Information requested

You asked how much interest the Scottish Government earned by the NHS Agenda for Change 2022/23 Pay Award for the period 1 April to 31 December 2022 not being paid to staff until 23 February 2023. If no interest was earned, you asked if we could advise where these funds sat during this period and why no interest was earned on them?

Response

The 2022-23 NHS Scotland AfC pay deal was negotiated in full partnership with NHS Trade Unions. Negotiations commenced in May 2022. Due to NHS union members rejecting the deal following formal ballots, negotiation recommenced ultimately resulting in acceptance of the final deal by the majority of staff side in December 2022, at which point the deal was implemented. Payroll timings mean that staff were paid the uplift and back pay between January and March 2023.

The response to your request is the Scottish Government did not earn any interest on the funds used to pay the 2022-23 NHS AfC pay award.

Although the Scottish Government has budgets for its expected spending over the course of the financial year, these funds are not held in cash at the start of the year and are accessed through the year as the need arises. Monthly cash requirements are supported by the Scottish Consolidated Fund, the largest element of which is funded by payments from the UK Government.

There is no significant period during which the Scottish Government holds cash funding for any particular item of spending. In accordance with HM Treasury guidance, the bank accounts used by the Scottish Government and the Scottish Consolidated Fund are not interest bearing.

Cash management arrangements for the funding payments the UK Government makes to the Scottish Consolidated Fund are a matter for the UK Government.

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