PUBLIC sector pay in Scotland is higher than the rest of the UK, new research has found.
Economists from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank have said that public sector pay has risen “sharply” in Scotland.
The new analysis found that public pay in Scotland rose by 5% above inflation in the 2019 to 2024 period – compared to the UK as a whole which saw no change in inflation.
The IFS highlighted the fact that a newly qualified teacher in Scotland gets an annual salary of £33,594 while in most of England – outwith London and its nearby counties – the starting salary is £31,650.
This trend can also be seen in nursing, with the Scottish starting wage of £31,892 against £29,970 in the majority of England.
Alongside higher wages, the Scottish public sector has also expanded steadily since 2017 with about 56,000 more people in state employment.
There are currently around 590,000 public sector workers in Scotland, making up 22% of the workforce. In Northern Ireland this sits at 26%, with 24% in Wales and 17% in England.
The IFS also found that the pay bill for the public sector in Scotland was £27 billion – more than half of Holyrood’s budget for day-to-day resource spending.
Funding the Scottish Government receives from Westminster via the Barnett formula mechanism is typically based on Scotland’s population share.
The formula is a UK Government policy which sees Scotland allocated funding according to spending decisions south of the Border.
Jonathan Cribb, an associate director at the IFS, said: “Scotland has not only increased the number of public sector workers more quickly than other parts of the UK, it has also increased their pay more quickly.
“While these are reasonable priorities for Scotland, it adds to the Scottish Government’s fiscal challenges, given that funding from the UK Government will not reflect these Scotland-specific decisions.
“It’s not obvious from the available data that higher public sector pay growth has delivered benefits in terms of improved staff retention.
“The Scottish Government should undertake or commission research to understand better the impacts of its pay policies, and consider targeting future increases in pay where there is clearest evidence of recruitment, retention or motivation problems.”
“People in the public sector including hard-working teachers and nurses are key.
“That is why Scotland has more frontline public sector workers than other parts of the UK and they are paid more, demonstrating the value placed by this government on workforce, skills, quality and fairness.
“Our approach to pay balances fairness and affordability and each public body covered by the Public Sector Pay Policy must ensure that their pay proposals will be affordable within their overall financial settlement.”
