MSPs AWARDED 3.4% PAY RISE
Anger as increase dwarfs boost offered to workers
MSPs were handed an early Christmas present yesterday as Scottish Parliament bosses offered them a 3.4 per cent wage rise next year.
Politicians at Holyrood saw their wages frozen last year, despite parliament chiefs earmarking a 5.1 per cent rise for them.
The increase would take MSPs’ basic salary to £66,662 from April.
Members can claim expenses and can top up their wages significantly if they are promoted to a Scottish Government position.
Since 2015, salaries for MSPs have been directly linked to public-sector pay rises in Scotland.
Before that, their salaries were linked to MPs’ pay, with MSPs getting 87.5 per cent of their Westminster counterparts’ wage.
Changes to MSPs’ pay are determined using the annual survey of earnings and working hours published by the Office for National Statistics.
The rise is generous compared with the increases Scots in the private sector can expect.
Bosses expect to raise staff pay by an average of 2.5 per cent over the next 12 months – well below the likely rate of inflation – according to a survey out last month. The Bank of England forecast that consumer price inflation would peak at nearly five per cent in the second quarter of next year.
The Scottish Government announced earlier this month it would implement a “minimum wage floor” for public sector staff of £10.50 an hour, Kate Forbes has said.
She told MSPs workers on low pay would get help in the next financial year.
It is not appropriate when carers are not even getting £15 an hour
The Finance Secretary said the Government would guarantee inflationary rises of at least £775 for those on less than £25,000 a year, £700 for people on £25,000 to £40,000 and £500 for Scots on more than £40,000.
CAROL MOCHAN LABOUR MSP TURNING DOWN RISE
People in the social care sector will see their hourly rate increase from £10.02 an hour to £10.50 per hour.
Labour MSP Carol Mochan said she would be giving the rise to charity.
She said: “It is completely inappropriate when carers are not even being given the £15 an hour they deserve, not to mention the number of people suffering due to Covid.”
Lyn Williams, an unpaid full-time carer from Glasgow, said: “I’d be delighted to receive just a fraction of this for our huge energy bills.”