Plans to shrink Scotland’s public sector workforce, brought forward in response to a looming budget spending gap of almost £5 billion, are “off course”, the Deputy First Minister has conceded.
Jenny Gilruth said the Scottish Government is “not where we should be” in terms of efforts to reduce the number of people working across the public sector.
Plans to shrink the overall size of the public sector workforce by an average of 0.5% a year – amounting to a 2.5% reduction by 2029-30 – were announced by ministers as part of their response to a possible shortfall in funds of £4.7 billion by that year.
However the Scottish Fiscal Commission confirmed in its latest update that “the devolved public sector workforce was higher at the end of 2025-26 than at the start”.
We’re not where we should be
Ms Gilruth was pressed on this when she appeared before MSPs on Holyrood’s Finance Committee, with Liberal Democrat Liam McArthur telling her: “To start off by going up rather than down simply doesn’t make any sense.”
Ms Gilruth, also the Finance Secretary in the Scottish Government, told the committee the plans “are off course at the current time”.
Labour leader Michael Marra then challenged her, saying: “You admit you’re off track?”
She told him: “We’re not where we should be.”
Conservative MSP Liam Kerr also challenged her to set out the level of reduction in jobs the Government wants to see in 2027-28.
“What additional reduction in headcount is the Scottish Government planning to make in the remaining four years of the plans in order to get back on track?” the Tory asked.
Ms Gilruth said she could not provide that figure, but she added ministers “will need to revise and consider how we drive that progress because we are not going in the right direction at the current time”.
Speaking about the rise in the public sector workforce, she said there had been “growth” in the headcount “across a range of health boards”.
The Deputy First Minister added however that the reduction in workforce would not be “felt evenly across the public sector”, saying: “I think that is fair to say, because we need to invest in our National Health Service, we all accept that.
“We want to protect frontline workers. We want to protect certain elements of our public sector because we recognise that is important.”
She said in “some local authorities there have been headcount reductions”, and the Scottish Government had also reduced its staffing levels.
“It would be remiss of me not to mention that in Scottish Government we have been able to reduce the core workforce by 12.7% since March of 2022,” the Deputy First Minister said.
“I accept it had increased, so there was a requirement for us to shrink it, but it is important that we get our own house in order.”