Created on: 10 May 2024
The Teachers’ Panel of the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT) notes, with increasing concern, the lack of progress in the 2024/25 pay round thus far.
Despite submission of the Teachers’ Side pay claim in January 2024, four months have now passed without any offer being tabled by COSLA and no firm indication has been given of when an offer will be forthcoming.
A short window of opportunity now exists for a pay settlement to be agreed in time for the implementation date of August 1st 2024, a change in implementation date previously agreed by both COSLA and the Scottish Government. It is now imperative that a pay offer is tabled, at the SNCT, without any further delay, to allow for meaningful negotiation to take place.
The Teachers’ Panel retains a firm and unequivocal commitment to the tripartite arrangements of the SNCT and to the principle of sectoral collective bargaining between teaching unions, COSLA and the Scottish Government. In submitting its pay claim in January of this year, the Teachers’ Panel made clear its wish to negotiate meaningfully in the spirit of such a commitment and has sought to do so in the intervening months despite delaying by the other partners.
As such, the Teachers’ Panel calls on both COSLA and the Scottish Government to undertake, as a priority, the work required to ensure that a meaningful pay offer is tabled so that the negotiations necessary to ensure that Scotland’s teachers receive an acceptable pay award, by 1st August 2024, can be concluded.