Scottish Government high earner salary data: FOI release

Information requested

1. By financial year, from 2015-16, total number of Scottish Government employees with a nominal salary of £100,000 or higher in prices as of those financial years.

2. By financial year, from 2015-16, total number of Scottish Government employees whose salary is £100,000 or higher in 2024-25 prices adjusted by the GDP deflator (i.e. number of employees earning £100,000 in 2024-25, earning over £94,000 in 2023-24 etc.).

Response

Response to Question 1:

This information has already been published by the Scottish Parliament as part of a parliamentary question. On that basis this is a formal notice under section 25(1) of FOISA that the information you have requested is otherwise accessible. You can find the information on the Scottish Parliament website at Written question and answer: S6W-30623 |Scottish Parliament Website.

Response to Question 2:

Please see the table below by financial year, from 2015-16, showing the total number of Scottish Government Core employees whose salary is £100,000 or higher in 2024-25 prices adjusted by the GDP deflator.

Please note the data is based on the substantive salary of Scottish Government Core employees as at the 31st March of each year and for the 2024-2025 data, the 30th September 2024.

Please also note that the proportion of the number of staff earning £100,000 or over (deflated by GDP) has decreased over time.

Year	GDP Deflator	£100k salary deflated compared to 2024/25	Scottish Government Core Headcount	No. of Employees earning £100k+ deflated by GDP	Proportion of total workforce earning £100k+ deflated by GDP
2015-16	77.335	£75,544	5385	67	1.2%
2016-17	79.081	£77,250	5458	65	1.2%
2017-18	80.325	£78,466	5911	60	1.0%
2018-19	82.017	£80,118	6689	57	0.9%
2019-20	83.961	£82,017	7368	63	0.9%
2020-21	88.466	£86,417	7816	59	0.8%
2021-22	87.949	£85,912	8846	60	0.7%
2022-23	94.218	£92,036	9175	65	0.7%
2023-24	100.000	£97,685	9222	62	0.7%
2024-25	102.370	£100,000	9392	66	0.7%

GDP Deflator Figure - Financial years 2015-16 to 2023-24 taken from ONS series L8GG in data tables: Table N: Attached

For years 2024-25: taken from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) GDP deflator forecasts as of October 2024 EFO detailed forecast tables.

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FOI 202400444463 - Information Released - Table N

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Excel document

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1.7 MB