2024/25 Pay Negotiations – Employers Side Pay Offer

LETTER FROM COSLA TO UNIONS

FAO Scottish Joint Council Trade Union Side Joint Secretaries

COSLA

Scottish Joint Council Pay Negotiations 2024/25 – Employers’ Side Pay Offer

I am writing in relation to our ongoing pay negotiations for 2024/25, in advance of the SJC Steering Group meeting taking place on 19 July.

We note that the offer made to you on 23 May has been rejected and that statutory ballots of each of your respective memberships have been undertaken and some are still underway in relation to industrial action in respect of this offer.

I am writing today to make a revised pay offer, within the mandate provided to Cllr Katie Hagmann, COSLA Spokesperson for Resources, by Council Leaders on 31 May 2024.

This is a one-year pay offer covering the 2024/25 pay year (April 2024 – March 2025) and consists of a 3.2% uplift on all Spinal Column Points (SCP) effective from 1 April 2024.

The employers’ side has taken account of your feedback regarding changing the settlement date for the 2024/25 pay year, which formed part of the offer made on 23 May. The above offer does not include a change in settlement date or any other terms and conditions changes. It fully utilises the negotiating envelope agreed by council Leaders. The offer is also of greater value than year one of the Scottish Government’s Public Sector Pay Policy 2024/25, which has an in-year value of 2.25%. This offer is at the very limit of affordability and in fact is beyond what councils have budgeted for.

The recent Pay Negotiations Review, considered by council Leaders in April 2024, recommended that consideration be given to changing the SJC pay settlement date to 1 September or 1 October each year. We remain interested in fully considering how this recommendation might be implemented, and hope that this, as well as the development of a negotiation protocol, can form the basis of constructive discussions at future meetings of the SJC Steering Group. We believe such developments have the potential to strengthen our approach to negotiations and pay agreements in future years, to the benefit of all parties.

We believe this offer is fair and meaningful and reflects the high value Leaders place on the Local Government workforce.

I should be obliged if, in receiving this pay offer from COSLA Employers, the Trade Unions take this offer to your members to seek their views and provide COSLA with your response. I would also request that industrial action plans be suspended whilst this new pay offer is considered.

Yours sincerely

Stuart Bain
Employers’ Side Joint Secretary