Fair Work action plan: progress report September 2024 - April 2025

5. Headline action 3

5.1 Our Aims

We will support employers to utilise the resources and support available to embed Fair Work in their organisations. We will work collaboratively to develop these resources to support and build capability among employers, employability providers and partners.

5.2 Delivery Overview

Action 3.1 (in progress) – work with partners to develop a central Fair Work resource offer.

• A Fair Work Digital Support Hub has been established at Fair Work - mygov.scot. The launch of the hub follows engagement with the Fair Work Resource Subgroup which comprises of members from CIPD, Prosper, ACAS, STUC, Business Gateway, Enterprise Agencies, Skills Development Scotland and the Fair Work Convention secretariat.
• The resource acts as an advice and support hub where employers can find information on Fair Work while signposting to a large range of external partners. Evaluation of the uptake of the Fair Work resource will take place over summer 2025 with findings influencing future content plans.

Action 3.2 (in progress) – develop a communications strategy to highlight and promote the benefits of Fair Work.

• Several Fair Work communication campaigns have taken place since September 2024. The autumn 2024 campaign received 66.4k impressions with 1.6k engagements across all channels. Employers were signposted to Fair Work Tool which is hosted on the Scottish Enterprise website. During the period 25 September to 11 November, there was an increase of approximately 46% in clicks on the website. A further, smaller campaign was launched in January 2025 to coincide with National Productivity Week – The Fair Work Infographic and Fair Pay & Secure Work posts were published on the Scottish Government X and Linked channels on 22 January and 29 January.
• The Fair Work Resource was launched at the British Business Awards in April 2025 with content across the Scottish Government X and LinkedIn channels, and partner’s social media channels – driving traffic to the Fair Work Resource. Newsletter articles were included in SG Economy and SG Employability bulletins in May. Early analytics from SG channels demonstrates – 5,100 organic impressions, 138 engagements with website, 14 reposts and 6 Likes.

Action 3.3 (in progress) – increase the number of people who have security of pay and contract by encouraging employers to seek real Living Wage and real Living Hours accreditation.

• We have just surpassed the milestone of 100 real Living Hours employers in Scotland, providing workers with predictable, dependable and liveable working contracts.
• In 2024-25 over 7,600 workers were uplifted to payment of at least the real Living Wage because of Living Wage accreditation. The number of accredited Living Wage employers has continued to increase to over 3,800 in 2025, from over 3,500 as reported last year, with Scotland proportionally having around five times as many accredited employers as in the rest of the UK.
• Real Living Wage Week is celebrated each autumn including ministerial visits from across the Scottish Government to real Living Wage employers to raise awareness, promote and celebrate the importance of paying employees a fair and sustainable wage. 16 ministerial visits took place during real Living Wage Week in 2024.

Action 3.6 (in progress) – promote the benefits of flexible working to organisations.

• The Scottish Government will launch several Fair Work grants, of up to £100k each, aimed at tackling economic inactivity and helping people to enter, remain and progress in fair work. These will focus on improving flexible working; supporting those with disabilities and/or health issues; and launching inclusive hiring initiatives within public sector organisations.

Action 3.8 (in progress) – work in sectors of low pay and precarious work to develop sectoral Fair Work agreements.

• There have been developments in the sectoral fair work agreements outlined in action 3.8:
  • Pay was uplifted across both Adult Social Care and Early Learning and Childcare to real Living Wage from April 2025. This was enabled through the provision of an additional £125m passed to local government as part of the 2025-26 Budget Bill. This action should contribute to reducing the gender pay gap given the prevalence of female workers across these sectors.
  • Additional investment to enable childcare staff delivering funded early learning and childcare in private and third sector services to be paid the rLW has supported an average increase of around £2,000 in the gross salary of eligible staff working full time. The Early Learning and Childcare workforce is overwhelmingly female (96% in Day Care of Children staff and 98% of childminders).

5.3 Related actions across the Scottish Government

Early Learning and Childcare (in progress) – Provide funding to enable payment of at least the real Living Wage for all staff in private and voluntary sector services providing funded Early Learning and Childcare and implement a proportionate means of monitoring its payment.

• The 2025-26 Budget Bill which passed on 25 February includes funding to provide local authorities with an additional £9.7 million to increase the pay of early learning and childcare workers delivering funded childcare at least the real Living Wage from April.

Education (in progress) – support Unions into Schools and Developing the Young Workforce programmes

• A total of 241 sessions took place across Scotland for 24/25 for the STUC Unions into Schools programme. The programme aims to equip young people to be successful in their working lives and within wider society. As part of this trained union representatives deliver sessions to pupils in secondary schools, which are intended to improve pupils’ knowledge of both their rights and responsibilities in the workplace, as well as how to recognise and deal with workplace discrimination and where to seek support.