Briefing 181: Cost of living September 2026
Statistics from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) on Household Cost Indices
(HCI) and the Consumer Price Index (CPI) underline what members know – costs
of basic essentials are climbing. This is particularly acute for petrol and diesel,
fuels, the price of which has jumped in recent weeks. Where average pay
settlements for public service workers have matched or slightly exceeded
inflation, they have not reversed over a decade of real-terms income decline. This
briefing summarises ONS data on rising costs, and information on how pay for
workers has changed over the past 12 months.
Briefing 180 Universities in crisis
Universities are anchors of communities and economies. They educate the future workforce and train the key workers needed to maintain public services, like nurses, social workers, and paramedics. Education is also a public good in and of itself.
UNISON members work in a variety of roles that keep Scotland’s universities running, including student support, administration, facilities management, and library work. These staff members are bearing the brunt of a financial crisis that they did not create and are facing continued pay erosion and widespread threats of job losses.
This briefing summarises the financial crisis facing the sector and UNISON’s position on what needs to change to ensure Scotland’s universities thrive, and their staff are given the decent pay and conditions they deserve.
Briefing 179 – Implementing the Care Reform (Scotland) Act
The Care Reform (Scotland) Act was passed in June 2025. It introduces new powers and requirements for Scottish ministers in relation to fair work, ethical commissioning and procurement and sectoral bargaining in social care, as well as for needs assessment and market monitoring.
The Act contains timescales for action on these. This briefing recaps on the new requirements and the implementation deadlines.
MSP briefing – urgent questions needing answers about public sector reform
The government has announced major structural reform of the public sector, the largest since devolution, but with very few details. Even the ‘what?’ and ‘how?’ of the proposals are currently missing.
This briefing for MSPs sets out the questions that need answered about public sector reform for UNISON’s members.
Ministers say there has been active ongoing engagement with trade unions around these plans. But engagement to date has been preliminary and lacking in detail. That remains the case one month into a 3-month informal period of consultation on the future of social care and local government. We want to engage constructively, but you cannot have effective engagement based on guess work.
Briefing 177 – Artificial intelligence in public service reform
The Scottish government has published its programme for government which puts into practice its public service reform strategy. This is a programme of workforce reduction, cuts and automation, which artificial intelligence (AI) will be at the heart of. It has also published its AI strategy, which sets out how AI will be put at the core of public services, and how the government will prioritise investing in AI companies and infrastructure. This briefing summarises examples of existing AI use in public services, the Scottish government’s AI strategy, how AI is key to its reform agenda, and sets out UNISON’s position on the use of AI in public services.
eBrief – Public sector reform: our response
UNISON has serious concerns about the government’s chosen approach to public sector reform. These are set out in this briefing.
Further detail can be found in our submission to parliament’s Public Service Reform Committee, available here.
Local government pension scheme reform – a single fund is a driver for growth
The Scottish government’s public sector reform agenda is a cuts agenda. Instead of pursuing a jobs and service reduction model the Scottish government should be looking for reforms that bring genuine, improved outcomes.
Pensions is one area where we could catch up and improve. But this will not happen on its own, and we will only reap the benefits with decisive action from the Scottish Government.
Our vision is for a single LGPS fund covering all Scotland. This would have the scale to leverage better deals and save money; the capacity for in-house teams to make direct local investments; improved ‘ESG’ ethical investment; and improved governance with a direct trade union say in decisions.
Post-school education and skills reform: Audit Scotland report
UNISON members work in a wide variety of roles within the college and post-school education system, and in roles supporting the tertiary education sector, including in Skills Development Scotland.
The Scottish government has embarked on the post-schools education and skills reform (PSESR) programme to reform the sector. Audit Scotland has published a report on PSESR so far which highlights several failings. This briefing summarises the findings of the report in the context of the Scottish government’s public service reform agenda (established in its recent programme for government (PfG)) and sets out UNISON’s position on what is needed to safeguard the future of Scotland’s post-school education system.
Public service reform in non-departmental public bodies
The public sector reform (PSR) strategy is a cuts agenda. PSR is dressed in the language of prevention, empowerment and improvement, but there is no doubt that it is a cuts agenda.
What this means was set out in the programme for government (PfG) on 1 September. However, details are sparse and this briefing sets out what is known about the Scottish government’s plans for non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) at this stage.
Public service reform in health
The public service reform (PSR) strategy has a cuts agenda. Driven by cost cutting, a huge transformation in how public services are governed and delivered is planned. What this means was set out in the Programme for Government on 1 September. Details are sparse, however, this briefing sets out what is known about public service reform and health at this stage.
Briefing 172 The cost of outsourcing: STUC research
Outsourcing, contracting out the delivery of public services from the public sector, is often presented as the cheapest option for public finances. This is not the case. Research from the Association for Public Service Excellence and the Scottish Trade Unions Council (STUC) shows that outsourcing, in its many forms, has come at a high economic cost for which workers, public services, and the public purse are paying the price. This briefing summarises this research and highlights the damage outsourcing causes to staff, public services, and the economy.
Briefing number: 171 Local Government Benchmarking report 2024/25
Every year the Improvement Service carry out research on how councils are performing against a range of measures, giving information about the last year and allowing comparisons over time.
Briefing number: 170 Date: January 2026
Please find attached a briefing on the Accounts Commission’s latest Local Government in Scotland – Financial Bulletin which was published today. In this latest update on council finances, the Accounts Commission reported that Scotland’s councils face a budget gap of nearly £1 billion by 2027.
Links to the full report and related documents are included within the briefing paper but can also be accessed here.
Briefing 169 – Scottish Water: Creeping Privatisation Report
This briefing summarises the findings of ‘Scottish Water: creeping privatisation A Critical Examination of Union Representation, Governance, Outsourcing, and Management Culture in Scottish Water’ by Des McNulty, Glasgow University
Briefing 168 – Population challenges for public services and the economy
This briefing looks at the implications of current and projected demographic change. It summarises recent publications from the Improvement Service.
There is a rising demand for services and pressures on budgets from an aging and increasingly unwell population and at the same time a declining population of working age to deliver and help fund these services.
This is already creating significant pressures on public services and contributing to the financial difficulties of councils, health boards and IJBs.
We need both a Scotland-specific migration policy and investment in social housing and public services to tackle these challenges and prevent a looming crisis.
Briefing number: 167 Date: July 2025Briefing 167 – Scottish Government Public Sector Reform Summit
On October 14th 2025 the Scottish Government held what they billed as a “Public Sector Reform Operational Summit” . The aim was to develop plans to fulfil the Scottish Government’s commitment to cut spending and jobs in public services. The invitees to the summit included virtually every Chief Executive in Scotland’s public sector.
Briefing 166 – Anti-racism Action Plan for Social Work
The Scottish Government published an Anti-racism Action Plan for the Scottish Social Work Sector in August 2025. The Action Plan sets out what the sector will do to make social work actively anti-racist. It builds upon the Statement of Intent published in November 2024, which set out a commitment and vision for removing racism and discrimination from social work in Scotland.
Briefing 165 – Scottish Government Fiscal Sustainability Delivery Plan
The Scottish Government has published it’s Fiscal Sustainability Delivery Plan. The aim of the document is to provide some detail on how the government intends to address pressures on their resource (ie day-to-day spending) budget over the next five years.
Briefing 164 – Scottish Government Medium-Term Financial Strategy
The Scottish Government have published their Medium-Term Financial Strategy. It outlines how they intend to approach public spending over the next five years.
Briefing 163 – Scottish Government Public Service Reform Strategy
The Scottish Government have published their Public Service Reform Strategy. It outlines their intention to reduce the size of the public sector workforce through a range of measures including deployment of automation and outsourcing to the third sector.
Briefing 162 – Local Government Workforce Report 2024
This briefing looks at the report on the local government workforce prepared for councils by SOLACE. The aim of the report is to provide information about the workforce and the current state of workforce planning across councils.
Briefing 161 – Local Government Benchmarking Report 2023-24
This Briefing summarises the main points from the annual Benchmarking Framework report compiled by the Improvement Service for CoSLA. The report looks at what has been happening to and in councils over a range of key measures and indicators in the last year. Comparisons are also made over time
Briefing 160 – Children (Care, Care Experience & Services Planning) Bill: Call for Views
The Government has decided that some reforms recommended by the Independent Care Review for children & young people require legislation. A Bill was introduced on 17 June 2025 which makes changes to the care system for children.
Briefing number: 159 Date: Jun 2025
Please find attached a briefing on looking at the implications of the recent UK Government Spending Review for public Spending in Scotland
Briefing number: 158 Date: Jun 2025
The Care Reform (Scotland) Bill
Introduction
On 10 June, the Care Reform (Scotland) Bill was passed. This briefing gives an overview of its provisions.
Briefing 157 – Care Management: Fit for purpose?
Care Management is the process for assessing individuals’ needs for social care services. It is integral to the social care system and how care users experience it. It is carried out by local authority staff known as Care Managers, usually social workers, occupational therapists or nurses.
Briefing number: 156 Date: Jun 2025
The Scottish AI Register and AI in Public Services
In the last few years, AI (Artificial Intelligence) has gained significant public attention with the release of tools like ChatGPT. Policymakers are quickly turning to AI as a potential solution to challenges in public sector funding, productivity, and staffing levels.
