We need Edinburgh weighting to protect our public sector staff - Miles Briggs

Before the Scottish Parliament broke up for Christmas, I raised the issue of an Edinburgh specific pay weighting for public service employees with the Deputy First Minister John Swinney.

During a question in the chamber, I asked Mr Swinney if he would meet with me to discuss an Edinburgh pay weighting to reflect the higher cost of living in the capital.

A weighted Edinburgh salary would give public service employees a proportionally higher salary to take account of the higher cost of living compared to other parts of Scotland.

Discussions around a weighted Edinburgh salary have been had before, but as public services recover from the pandemic and we are going through a cost of living crisis, it is more important than ever we seriously consider an Edinburgh salary which allows public services employees to be able to afford to live in Edinburgh.

In the capital, we have some of the highest vacancy rates in our public services and some of the highest housing and childcare costs. We have been experiencing a social care crisis in Edinburgh for a number of years now, which has only become worse since the pandemic. If you speak to experts in the delivery of cocial care, the number one challenge is the recruitment and retention of staff. Social care professionals are on a relatively low wage and, when you combine this with the cost of living in Edinburgh, it is understandable that people don’t want to stay in the profession when many can get better-paid, less demanding jobs elsewhere.

Not being able to deliver social care effectively has the knock on effect of elderly people not being able to leave hospital when they are medically fit to do so because there are no places in the community for them to go to. This leads to high levels of delayed discharge, which is bad for the individual - and the hospital. Hospitals are not designed to have constant high levels of bed occupancy, with emergency services and emergency departments being unable to operate efficiently because there are not enough beds available.

I am pleased that Mr Swinney agreed to meet with me to further discuss the possibility of an Edinburgh pay weighting. Arguably, Edinburgh is now as expensive as London to live in and London has had a pay weighting to reflect the higher cost of living for a long time now. When I meet with the Deputy First Minister in the New Year, one of the main topics that we will discuss is what research will need to be carried out to inform decisions about proportionally higher pay for public service employees in Edinburgh.

There have been various studies into how the weighting system has helped London. In an ideal world we wouldn’t need one here, but for those of us living in Edinburgh we are seeing shortages in the public sector workforce like no other part of the country and it is because of the cost of living in the Capital.

Edinburgh weighting on wages is needed to attract staff into the public sector at a time of spiralling costs of city living, writes Miles Briggs. PIC: Ad Meskens.

I think everyone is realising we now need an Edinburgh weighting but it’s a question of how we deliver that and make it affordable.

In 2023, it is time for fresh thinking and a new approach for the Capital.

Miles Briggs is the Conservative MSP for Lothian region