Fair Work Action Plan: indicator report 2025

5. Fair Work is embedded in public sector financial support

Key findings

• The proportion of regulated contracts awarded by public bodies that contain a scored Fair Work First criterion increased from 25% in 2019/20 to 41% in 2022/23.
• 95% of suppliers with a live Scottish Government contract have committed to pay the real Living Wage.
• Partial data is available on grants awarded with Fair Work First criteria, following survey data gathering by Scottish Government covering 2024/25. This does not present a complete picture of all grants awarded.

Available indicators

• Regulated contracts with Fair Work First criteria
• Grants awarded with Fair Work First criteria

5.1 Regulated contracts with Fair Work First criteria

This indicator draws from the Public Sector Annual Procurement Report (regulated contracts) and SG Procurement Annual Report (suppliers and real Living Wage).

Impact on Fair Work: Attribution

According to Annual Procurement Activity reports between 2019 and 2023 the proportion of regulated contracts awarded by public bodies that contain a scored Fair Work First (FWF) criterion has increased between 2019/20 to 2022/23, from 25% to 41%, Table 1.

It is the responsibility of the individual public bodies to consider whether it is relevant and proportionate to include Fair Work First criteria in all regulated procurement exercises.

Source: Scottish Government, Annual Report on Procurement Activity, 2019 to 2023, The Scottish Government

The proportion of suppliers with a live Scottish Government contract who have committed to pay the real Living Wage rose from 94% in 2021/22 to 95% in 2022/23. The requirement to pay the real Living Wage to workers involved in the delivery of Scottish Government contracts came into force in October 2021. This only applies to contracts where Fair Work First practices, including payment of the real Living Wage, are relevant and proportionate.

5.2 Grants awarded with Fair Work First criteria

There is currently no central grant monitoring function within the Scottish Government. However, the Scottish Government has undertaken data gathering exercises to understand the use of conditionality and the approval of exceptions ^[11]. The most recent data can be drawn from – Fair Work First: Grants Awarded April 2024 to March 2025^[12].

This data does not represent a complete picture of all grants awarded by public bodies as the tables show data from survey respondents only. FWF conditionality does not apply to grant in aid / non-discretionary grant funding so the value of this funding is not included. Also, as public sector organisations in receipt of grant funding from the Scottish Government may use this to award further grants the overall value of grants awarded may include some double-counting.

Impact on Fair Work: Attribution

In addition to the Scottish Government and the 32 local authorities, this request was sent to 132 public bodies. A total of 106 individual responses were received, including from individual Scottish Government directorates, 39 of which reported a nil return.

Based upon the information available, public sector organisations across Scotland awarded 5,234 discretionary grants with Fair Work First conditionality attached between April 2024 and March 2025, Table 2. These grants had a combined value of £3.42 billion. The majority of approved exceptions awarded were found to be for only part of the workforce (155) with a small number of exceptions received for the whole workforce (3) or unknown (18) ^[13].

Source: Scottish Government, Annual Report on Procurement Activity, 2019 to 2023, The Scottish Government

Note: n/a – not applicable