Nursery World - MSP joins battle over unequal pay

The cause of disgruntled officers working for the new Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care who are angry over discrepancies in their rates of pay has been championed by Irene McGugan MSP, the SNP deputy minister for children and education. The officers have transferred from 40 different previous employers and have been kept on their old salaries. Those who have transferred from health boards and formerly regulated residential care homes and care of adults tend to be on higher pay than former local authority workers who dealt with care for the under-eights. Ms McGugan said she understood there was a difference of around 6,000, but Nursery World has learned that it could be as high as 11,000.

The officers have transferred from 40 different previous employers and have been kept on their old salaries. Those who have transferred from health boards and formerly regulated residential care homes and care of adults tend to be on higher pay than former local authority workers who dealt with care for the under-eights. Ms McGugan said she understood there was a difference of around 6,000, but Nursery World has learned that it could be as high as Pounds 11,000.

Ms McGugan said, 'There was an expectation that these anomalies would be rectified when everybody transferred, but people seem to have transferred on their existing salaries. They have exactly the same job but are on very different salary scales. There has been some dissatisfaction over people being paid less than their colleagues. This is not the right ethos for the Commission to be established on or continue with.

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