Private and voluntary sector staff working in Adult Social Care (ASC), Children’s Services (CS) and those who deliver funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) will receive at least £12 an hour under a new pledge made by the First Minister.
This uplift, announced in the First Minister’s first Programme for Government, will mean an increase of more than £2,000 a year for some staff in April 2024.
The £12 minimum pay rate represents an increase of 10.1% from the £10.90 minimum rate that was introduced in April 2023 for eligible staff in ASC and ELC.
For workers in CS who previously received National Minimum Wage, this increase will represent a minimum increase in pay of 15.2% compared to April 2023.
Background
The Scottish Government is working with COSLA and local authorities to support the implementation of this commitment and will set out further details in the coming months, building on the current guidance that supports implementation of the real Living Wage commitment.
Currently the minimum paid wage for adult social care staff in Scotland is around £900 per year higher for full time staff in Scotland than it is for their counterparts in England.
I’m Graeme’s Parliamentary Assistant based at Holyrood, but I support his constituency work as well. Having been Caseworker to an Aberdeenshire MP some years prior, joining Graeme's team in 2019 was a return to this line of work from a role in fundraising.