The SNP have been accused of “breathtaking hypocrisy” for telling others to tighten their belts while allowing the cost of running the Scottish Government to soar.
Data obtained by the Scottish Conservatives reveals a huge surge in costs for government employees, with a wage bill that has risen by a “staggering” £42million in the past two and a half years.
More than 2,700 civil servants are now employed in the highest pay bands.
The Scottish Conservative shadow finance secretary Craig Hoy will challenge the SNP to explain these spiralling costs in the Scottish Government debate on the budget today (Tuesday).
The rise in wages costs between 2022 and 2024 amounts to a whopping 10-per-cent jump and does not even include the wage inflation that has occurred in that time, meaning the true figure will be higher.
At a time when the SNP government cites financial constraints to justify tax rises and preaches to others about delivering value for money, there has been an enormous expansion in the number of middle- and senior-ranked government employees.
Yet there has been not a single redundancy – voluntary or compulsory – in the core civil service since 2021.
Scottish Conservative shadow finance secretary Craig Hoy said: “This staggering rise in the cost of government demonstrates the SNP’s breathtaking hypocrisy.
“While everyone else is being told to tighten their belts, the SNP can always find more taxpayers’ money to spend on their own government.
“It is astonishing that this rise does not even account for the wage inflation that will have occurred in that time, meaning the true rise in the total wage bill will be higher.
“Far from tackling these spiralling costs, the SNP has presided over a huge expansion in the number of middle and senior civil servants.
“While they make cuts in public services and hammer households and businesses with ever-higher taxes, the Nats have made no effort to reform their own workforce, or to tackle waste.
“We now urgently need a common-sense approach that will address the bloated government payroll, cut out excess spending and lower the tax burden on ordinary Scots.”
Notes
The total cost of Scottish Government civil service pay has increased by more than 10% even after adjusting for inflation. Using the median salary of each Scottish Government civil service pay grade at March 2024, the total cost of the salaries of Scottish Government core employees stood at £403 million at March 2022, increasing to £445 million by September 2024. This is due to the substantial shift of Scottish Government civil servants to higher pay grades. This represents an increase of more than 10%. (Scottish Government Freedom of Information Response, 14 January 2025, Attached).
At the top pay grades, the number of civil servants has increased by nearly 500. At March 2022, the number of civil servants in any of the C pay grades stood at 2,278. By September 2024, this number had increased to 2,776. (Written Parliamentary Question Answer, 27 January 2025, Attached).
See table below. These figures are calculated by multiplying the number of civil servants in each pay grade by the median salary in each pay grade as it stood at March 2024. This is so that the rise demonstrated below accounts for wage inflation, meaning the 10% increase is effectively an above-inflation increase in total salary costs.
Cost of paygrade |
March 2022 cost |
March 2023 cost |
March 2024 cost |
September 2024 cost |
A3 |
£10,945,341 |
£9,826,839 |
£8,069,193 |
£7,350,156 |
A4 |
£13,324,973 |
£13,324,973 |
£11,425,645 |
£11,128,875 |
B1 |
£37,619,505 |
£37,293,795 |
£36,446,949 |
£34,297,263 |
B2 |
£67,368,642 |
£71,450,412 |
£67,563,012 |
£67,057,650 |
B3 |
£102,777,955 |
£108,168,585 |
£111,270,740 |
£117,780,180 |
C1 |
£101,067,162 |
£110,426,526 |
£122,090,808 |
£127,399,104 |
C2 |
£59,006,220 |
£61,092,720 |
£66,350,700 |
£69,522,180 |
C3 |
£10,522,392 |
£9,673,812 |
£9,504,096 |
£10,098,102 |
Total Cost |
£402,632,190 |
£421,257,662 |
£432,721,143 |
£444,633,510 |