Sunday Times: about 800 Scottish public sector staff paid £27m a year without permanent roles

Right · 1A Sunday Times investigation found that around 800 Scottish public sector staff are receiving full salaries, totalling about £27 million a year, while having no permanent roles. 1 Right · 1The workers are in the NHS, local councils and government quangos, and remain employed although their positions no longer exist. 1 Right · 1The situation stems from a 2007 ban on compulsory redundancies in Scotland's public sector, introduced by the SNP; First Minister John Swinney has continued to back the policy while Scotland faces a projected £5billion deficit, according to GB News. 1

Right · 2Affected staff are placed in redeployment pools while they wait for suitable alternative posts, generally on comparable pay and benefits to their previous jobs. 1 2 Right · 2The most striking case is an NHS Highland employee who has received full pay and benefits for 17 years without a specific post; the board declined to say what the person did or their total pay. 1 2 Right · 1NHS Highland has 88 staff in redeployment, 26 of whom have had no permanent role for at least five years. Across Scotland's public sector, 255 workers had been without fixed employment for more than 12 months, and 49 had received full pay for five years or more after their posts were made redundant. 1

Right · 1Police Scotland, Scottish Water and NHS 24 also reported keeping several employees without permanent posts for five years or more. 1 Right · 1Scotland's NHS spends about £1.4 million a month (£16.8 million a year) on such staff, based on data for 315 workers, with data on another 185 withheld; local authorities spend about £5.8 million a year. 1 Right · 1Reason said the true cost is probably higher because several public bodies refused to disclose salary information for hundreds of the workers. 2

Right · 1Scottish Conservative finance spokesman Craig Hoy called it "a gravy train for insiders" and urged the Auditor General for Scotland to investigate. 1 Right · 1Alan Boyter, a former senior NHS HR director, accepted that redeployment pools can avoid redundancy costs and early pension liabilities, but called five-year waits "just poor management" and 17 years "outrageous", suggesting a two-year limit. 1 Right · 1The Scottish Government said its no-compulsory-redundancy policy remains in force and that organisations must ensure staff awaiting redeployment are "engaged in appropriate work for their pay scale"; NHS Highland said it follows national policy. 1