Title

PAY

Scottish council workers reject 5% pay offer

Waste service workers will today go on strike across 14 local authority areas in Scotland after trade union Unite rejected a 5% pay offer.

Waste service workers will today go on strike across 14 local authority areas in Scotland after trade union Unite rejected a 5% pay offer.

Unite's local government committee rejected outright the 5% pay offer from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA). 

According to the union, for more than half of local government workers, COSLA's offer represents an increase of between £900 and £1,250.

In comparison, in England, council workers have been offered a £1,925 flat rate pay offer.

Unite industrial officer Wendy Dunsmore said: ‘It's a sad indictment that council workers in Scotland are being offered substantially less than their counterparts in England.

‘The offer on the table just doesn't help the lowest paid make ends meet.

‘This dispute will continue to escalate to a point where it could now go beyond the winter, causing months of massive nationwide disruption.'

PAY

Burnham: Scotland 'one of most centralised nations in Europe'

By Dan Peters | 16 October 2026

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he wanted to design a fresh model of ‘regional, economic empowerment’ across Scotland.

PAY

EXCLUSIVE: Labour-led Brent and Barking and Dagenham miss out on first round of London homes cash

By Dan Peters | 15 October 2026

Labour-led Brent and Barking & Dagenham LBCs are understood to have failed to get anything from the first round of Whitehall’s £39bn affordable housing fund.

PAY

Spending on B&Bs for homeless families soars

By By Neil Merrick | 01 October 2026

The cost to councils of placing homeless families in B&Bs has shot up by a quarter, with spending by London boroughs more than doubling, according to officia...

PAY

Rewiring the state: Shock treatment for councils?

By Steve Leach | 01 October 2026

Colin Copus and Steve Leach ask if a rewired state will lead local government to blow a fuse.

Popular articles by William Eichler

-->