Finance secretary pledges ‘compromise’ over care worker pay in Budget

Finance Secretary Kate Forbes has pledged to see if cash can be found in the Scottish Government's Budget to give care workers a pay rise.

Cabinet Secretary for Finance Kate Forbes speaking, alongside First Minister Nicola Sturgeon (left) during the Stage 1 Debate of the Budget Bill for Scotland at the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood, Edinburgh. Picture date: Thursday February 25, 2021.

Ms Forbes said she could not at present support a Labour amendment to the Budget calling for all social care staff to get an immediate increase in wages to £12 an hour, before increasing this further still to £15.However, she said she would look at the figures and work with Labour to "see if we can come to a compromise".

She made the commitment as MSPs debated the Scottish Government's draft tax and spending plans for the coming year at Holyrood.

The first stage of the budget was passed by 88 votes to 31, with five abstentions.

A Conservative amendment insisting that the draft Budget failed to "meet the level of funding required by local authorities" was rejected by 53 votes to 62, with 10 abstentions. Meanwhile, an amendment from Labour, calling for social care workers to get an immediate pay rise to £12, ahead of a review to increase this to £15 an hour "to fully recognise the value of their work" was defeated by 22 votes to 60, with 41 abstentions.

MSPs passed the Scottish rate resolution, setting all income tax rates and bands, by 88 votes to one, with 35 abstentions.

With UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak due to unveil his Budget next week, Ms Forbes said there would likely be further changes to her own proposals.

"The delayed UK Budget in March is key to confirming that the actual funding position will be for Scotland next year," she told the Scottish Parliament.

"I think it is likely that will mean we need to take further changes to the Bill following the UK Budget, to ensure that the allocations reflect the resources available."

With the minority SNP administration needing to win the support of at least one other party at Holyrood to pass the budget, the Finance Secretary said she had already met with the other parties "several times".

She told MSPs: "My overarching objective is to support the people of Scotland through these most challenging of months."

She said she was "fully committed to exploring" Labour calls for a pay rise for care staff.

However, she stressed any wage hike would need to be "affordable", adding: "I ultimately need to ensure proposals on pay which are recurring and can not be covered by one off Covid consequentials can be funded."She added that collective bargaining meant there could be "knock-on impacts on other workforces" in the public sector.

She stated: "My public commitment today is to explore carers' pay with officials and with Jackie Baillie over the coming weeks to see if we can come to a compromise."

The Budget includes a 12 month extension of 100 per cent rates relief for retail, hospitality, leisure, aviation and newspaper businesses, £1.1 billion for jobs and skills, record spending for health services, an £11.6 billion settlement for local government and new funding to tackle climate change.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.