Exclusive:Union demands 'change of attitude' from SNP ministers as local government and bin strikes loom

SNP ministers have been urged to “step up” and show a “change of attitude” after Chancellor Rachel Reeves hinted public sector workers south of the border could receive a pay rise above the rate of inflation.

Parts of Scotland are bracing for local government workers going on strike next month as unions and the umbrella organisation for local councils, Cosla, struggle to agree a pay deal. Other parts of the public sector, including the NHS, are yet to agree pay deals.

SNP First Minister John Swinney and Finance Secretary Shona Robison have been urged to 'step up' in public sector pay negotiations (Photo by Lisa Ferguson/National World)

Union leaders are urging SNP ministers to take a more active role in negotiations and pledge more money as the UK Labour government opened the door to pay increases in England higher than the rate of inflation.

Reports suggest independent pay review bodies have recommended a 5.5 per cent rise for teachers and NHS staff in England.

Speaking to the BBC, the Chancellor said she valued public service workers and “people won’t have long to wait for a decision”.

“There is a cost to not settling, a cost of further industrial action, and a cost in terms of the challenge we face recruiting,” she told Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, stressing her spending rules were “non-negotiable”. “We will do it in a proper way and make sure the sums add up.”

Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves has hinted that public sector workers south of the border could be in line for a pay rise above the rate of inflation. Picture: Getty Images

But ministers would not be drawn on whether they would implement the pay review bodies’ recommendations.

Treasury minister James Murray said the Chancellor would present the UK government’s response to the recommendations at the end of the month, taking into account the state of the public finances, adding it would not be “helpful” for him to “pre-empt the process that we are going through right now”.

Now, trade unions are calling on SNP ministers to pave the way for more generous pay deals.

Cosla’s revised one year-offer for local government workers is 3.2 per cent, and Unison members in 13 Scottish local authorities have voted to strike. Unison will also be balloting 38,000 staff working in schools, early years and family centres this week.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves (Photo by Lucy North/PA)

Speaking to The Scotsman, Unison Scotland secretary Lilian Macer said: “The Scottish Government needs to step up. We are days away from local government strikes and NHS staff are very angry that they are still waiting for pay talks to begin properly.

“So far, the Scottish Government has taken the line that they can't get involved. Public services workers have had enough. This can't continue.”

Ms Macer added: “Rachel Reeves says she recognises pay awards must be above inflation. She is listening to Unison's warnings about the difficulty in recruitment and retention of staff, that we need to sort pay out much more quickly, and underfunded public services are a drag on the economy.

“We need a change of attitude here in Scotland too. Both governments, employers and all those involved need to get round the table to solve these issues across the public sector. Public service workers have only ever asked for fair pay for providing essential services."

The Scottish Government’s public sector pay policy was published in May, with SNP finance secretary Shona Robison insisting it “balances flexibility with fairness and affordability, and offers multi-year pay metrics above forecast levels of inflation from 2024/25 to 2026/27”.

The cumulative impact of the pay metrics over the three-year period is 9.3 per cent – around 3 per cent each year.

But a Scottish Government spokesperson stressed negotiations over local government pay “are a matter for local authorities as employers and unions”, adding “the Scottish Government has no formal role”.

The spokesperson said: “While we respect workers’ rights, no one’s interests are served by industrial action, which will harm communities and people. The Scottish Government urges all parties involved to work together constructively and reach an agreement which is fair for the workforce and affordable for employers.”

Paul Johnson, director of the influential Institute for Fiscal Studies, which the SNP repeatedly cited during the election to criticise Labour’s economic strategy, suggested the UK government’s pay rises could cost an extra £3 billion for schools and the NHS alone.

He told the BBC: “In terms of the cost, there isn’t a specific number that is budgeted for schools, it’s probably one or 2 per cent. It’s certainly nothing like 5.5 per cent, so we’d certainly be looking at at least an additional £1bn on schools’ costs relative to what they’re currently expecting. And a number at least double that across the NHS if the proposals for the NHS are similar, which it appears that they might be.”

Discussing public sector pay on Sunday morning, the Chancellor accused Conservative former ministers of “running away” from making a decision on public sector pay south of the border. She singled out former education secretary Gillian Keegan, saying the pay review body’s recommendations for teachers had been on her desk for “months”.

“She didn’t do anything about it – she didn’t publish it, she didn’t say how she was going to respond to it,” Ms Reeves said.

Ms Reeves has batted away criticism that Labour has chosen not to lift the two-child cap on benefits that campaigners and experts have insisted would instantly lift thousands of families out of poverty.

The Chancellor warned that to do so would cost more than £3bn a year, adding: “We were really clear during the election that we were not going to make spending commitments without being able to say where the money was going to come from.

"If we’re not able to say where the money is going to come from, we can’t promise to do it. That’s true when it comes to the two-child limit and anything else.”

Despite a refusal to prioritise ending the two-child cap, Ms Reeves insisted Labour could still reduce poverty.

She said: “Previous Labour governments have lifted kids out of poverty. It is what is in our DNA. We will do that, but I’m not willing to make unfunded commitments”.

New figures published by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) found 1.6 million children are impacted by the two-child benefit cap, with families losing as much as £3,455 a year per child. The charity found 300,000 children would be lifted out of poverty, and a further 700,000 would be in less deep poverty, if the two-child cap was abolished.

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn will table an amendment to the King’s Speech on Tuesday that will call for the cap to be scrapped.

He said: “The two-child cap was the Tories operating at their worst, so scrapping the cap would deliver on the promise made to the public for real change.

"Every child poverty charity in Scotland and beyond recognises that this policy penalises children and keeps them rooted in poverty. We’ll vote to do the right thing by those bairns and I would encourage other Scottish MPs to do likewise.”