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G: AFTER APPROVAL
When can you negotiate with your Trade Union(s)?
1. Pay remit proposals should reflect your maximum negotiating position within Public Sector Pay Policy limits and approval of those proposals sets the parameters for detailed negotiations with your recognised Trade Union(s). We encourage you to work constructively with your relevant Trades Union(s) on the development of your overall pay and reward strategies prior to submitting your remit. However, whilst informal discussions can take place you must not enter into formal negotiations with Trades Unions until your remit has been approved. Trade Unions should note that informal discussions cannot be treated as agreement until the remit is approved.
When should you contact the Scottish Government following approval?
2. If, during negotiations, you are considering enter into an agreement that exceeds the percentages approved in your remit, or deviating substantially from the basis of approval (such as the pay structure you proposed) then you need to contact the Finance Pay Policy team in the first instance. You may need to revise your proposals and seek further approval from the Scottish Government. Changes within the limits approved are a normal part of negotiations and need not be referred for further advice.
3. Formal approval of your proposals will set out any conditions on that approval, it will also include a settlement proforma that must be completed for all years of the pay award and returned within 1 month of it being implemented. More detail on this proforma is set out in the Technical Guide. You should contact the Finance Pay Policy team if you have any queries about its completion.
4. The Finance Pay Policy team will also send you an outturn proforma for you to complete at the end of the first year of a two year remit and the end of the first and second year of a three year remit. You should contact the Finance Pay Policy team if you have queries about their completion.
What are the limits on legal commitments?
5. Approval of pay remits is on the basis that you do not enter into any legally-binding contractual agreements in Trade Union negotiations that effectively commits you to automatic costs in the future (i.e. beyond the duration of the approved remit).
6. All existing legally binding commitments should take into consideration affordability and financial constraints in current and future years. All public bodies are advised to take legal advice on the drafting of pay commitments to ensure that these are affordable and consistent with the pay remit process.
What happens if you exceed your pay remit?
7. If you go beyond the three key pay metric percentages in your approved remit, deviate from the basis on which the remit was approved or if you negotiate changes to pay and conditions without featuring or costing them in your pay remit proposals then you will be considered to have exceeded your approved pay remit. We expect you to adhere to the basis on which your remit has been approved, including any key features of the remit involving the use of resources to meet the key pay policy priorities. We will make the basis of approval of the remit very clear.
8. There may be circumstances that could not have been foreseen when you submitted your remit for approval that nevertheless mean that you exceed your approved remit, and if so, you must provide an explanation. The Remuneration Group will take into account this explanation when considering the circumstances of approval and implementation. Where you have significantly exceeded the approved remit or have materially moved away from the basis of that remit then the Remuneration Group may refer the outturn and your current remit to Ministers. The Remuneration Group expect Ministers to take action where the explanation is not adequate. That action may require the sponsor team and accountable officer to justify the matter to the Portfolio Minister and the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth and may result in action being taken, such as capping of future pay remits or a governance review of the body.
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