Press Officers: FOI release

Information requested

1. How many press officers do you employ
2. How many earn more than £50,000 a year
3. How many earn more than £100,000 a year
4. Can you publish all salary bands for press officers

Response

The numbers of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff in the Communications Division varies throughout the financial year and the figures represent staff numbers on just one day of each year (March 31). This means that these figures are a 'snapshot': they do not represent either a total number or average number of staff employed in the year.

1. The number of FTE frontline communications staff/press officers is set out in the table below.

Year	FTE
2019-2020	49.63*

2. The number of FTE frontline communications staff/press officers who earn more than £50,000 is set out in the table below.

Year	FTE
2019-2020	10.63*

3. The number of FTE frontline communications staff/press officers who earn more than £100,000 per year is set out in the table below.

Year	FTE
2019-2020	0*

* FTE figures are from March 31 2020 and are from 19-20 financial year, we do not have 2020-21 financial year information, this will be available from 31st March 2021. Therefore in response to question 4 we are providing the pay scale for 2019 and 2020.

4. Scottish Government main salary bands for Press Officers Pay range from 1 April 2019 and from 1 April 2020 are provided below.

Pay ranges from 1 April 2019 - Scottish Government Main
From April 2019, the following pay ranges apply:

	B1	B2	B3	C1	C2	C3
Max-3	25,367	29,759	37,418	47,504	62,191	71,881
Max-2	26,359	31,201	38,507	50,949	64,354	72,702
Max-1	27,351	32,644	40,965	54,487	67,148	73,522
Max	28,341	34,087	45,241	59,229	71,781	74,343

Pay ranges from April 2020 - Scottish Government Main
From 1 April 2020, the following pay ranges apply:

	B1	B2	B3	C1	C2	C3
Max-3	26,155	30,652	38,541	48,930	64,057	74,038
Max-2	27,150	32,138	39,663	52,478	66,285	74,884
Max-1	28,172	33,624	42,194	56,122	69,163	75,728
Max	29,192	35,110	46,599	61,006	73,935	76,574

As these are specialist posts, they carry a professional pay supplement for the following grades of:

• B2: £2,000 per annum pro rata rising to £3,750 on completion of 12 months' successful service.
• B3-C3: £3,000 per annum pro rata rising to £5,000 on completion of 12 months' successful service.

Pay supplements are temporary and reviewed every three years. They are paid monthly in addition to basic pay.

About FOI

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