Scottish Government roles with blank job titles: FOI release

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.


Information requested

By financial year, from 2015 to present:

1. (Question 1) Total expense by the Scottish Government on employing people whose recorded job title field is blank (A recent FOI response from you listed this as ‘Job Title Field Blank’)

Please break this down by:

a. Wage bill
b. Employer taxes
c. Pension contributions
d. Severance/voluntary redundancy payments
e. Perks
f. Other (if applicable. Please break this down further by any significant sub-categories if these are stored).

2. (Question 2) Average wage of Scottish Government-employed people with a blank job title field on record, both actual and full time equivalent.

Response

In relation to both questions, Scottish Government only holds information on job titles from the 2017-2018 Financial Year onwards. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested.

Information relates to Scottish Government Core Directorates only.

Question 1

The below table sets out the total expense of employees with a blank job title, as per the response to FOI/ 202400439553. We have interpreted 'perks' as employee recognition reward mechanisms, which are commonly understood to be employee 'perks'.

The table is broken down by wage costs, employer national insurance contributions, and pension contributions. The cost of severance/ voluntary redundancy payments, and other 'perks', was nil.

Employment cost by £

2017-18

2018-19

2019-20

2020-21

2021-22

2022-23

2023-24

April 2024 to September 2024

Wage Costs

4,543,378

3,839,367

2,878,542

2,253,409

1,780,565

1,712,857

668,056

325,291

Employer National Insurance

481,798

411,016

310,698

247,804

199,733

202,603

73,638

37,359

Pension Contributions

937,494

801,942

772,937

614,072

498,185

463,111

176,012

89,604

Total Expense

5,962,669

5,052,326

3,962,177

3,115,284

2,478,484

2,378,571

917,706

452,254

Question 2

The table below sets out the average wage of Scottish Government employed people with a blank job title (both actual and FTE), for the same period. Please note that salary information provided reflects substantive salaries, which is then multiplied by FTE to get the actual salary. Staff identified are based on the data as at 31 March at the end of the financial year, and salaries are as at 31 March (or 30 September for the 2024-2025 Financial Year).

Total staff as at end of financial year 

135

103

72

52

40

36

15

12

Mean Actual Salary (£)

32,711

37,129

38,209

41,497

44,114

46,347

42,064

50,971

Mean Salary FTE (£)

35,210

39,864

41,242

43,901

47,293

50,751

49,072

59,325

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

Contact

Please quote the FOI reference
Central Correspondence Unit
Email: contactus@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000

The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

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