Public sector pay policy 2022 to 2023

No Compulsory Redundancy

Since 2007, a key strand of Scottish Government policy has been the commitment to no compulsory redundancy. The policy has continued in recent years and was intended to off-set the impact of significant pay restraint during the years of UK Government austerity.

This Government believes the commitment to no compulsory redundancy has created the right environment to provide staff with job security while enabling employers and their staff representatives to take a range of steps to manage their headcount and budgets.

Since becoming the first government in the UK to lift the pay cap, the majority of public bodies where this pay policy applies have shown an increase in staffing and there has been an increase in the overall workforce across the Scottish public sector.

The policy position remains that public bodies should work with their staff representatives to negotiate extensions to their no compulsory redundancy agreements for 2022-23 where it is practical to do so. Where public bodies are seeking to re-structure, particularly as part of a wider reform option, full consideration must be given to re-deployment and re-training.