Scottish Government staff who have signed settlement agreements or compromise agreements: FOI release

Information requested

1. How many settlements, compromise agreements, or similar agreements have been signed by staff or former staff for 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025, broken down by calendar year.

2. The total cost of the settlements, compromise agreements, or other similar agreements, which have been signed by staff or former staff for 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025, broken down by calendar year.

3. The number of settlements, compromise agreements, or similar agreements which have been signed by staff or former staff whereby the staff member, or former staff member signed a nondisclosure agreement/clause, or some other form of gagging order (such as an agreement not to criticise the employer) for the years 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025, broken down by calendar year.

4. The total costs of settlements, compromise agreements, or similar agreements which included a non-disclosure agreement/clause or similar gagging order for the years 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025, broken down by calendar year.

Response

In your request, you have asked for information about Scottish Government former and current staff who have signed settlement agreement, compromise agreement or similar. Our response therefore covers permanent staff employed, or who were employed, in the Scottish Government Core Directors- General business areas, as outlined in Annex A.

You have also requested for information for the last 5 calendar years. Our response is therefore based on the time period 1 January 2021 to 27 May 2025 (that is, the date of your request).

The following table sets out the information you have requested.

Calendar year	How many settlements, compromise agreements, or similar agreements have been signed by staff or former staff	The total cost of the settlements, compromise agreements, or other similar agreements, which have been signed by staff or former staff	The number of settlements, compromise agreements, or similar agreements which have been signed by staff or former staff whereby the staff member, or former staff member signed a non- disclosure agreement/clause, or some other form of gagging order (such as an agreement not to criticise the employer)	The total costs of settlements, compromise agreements, or similar agreements which included a non-disclosure agreement/clause or similar gagging order for the years
2021	4	£80,545.95	0	0
2022	2	£106,254.35	0	0
2023	4	£83,250	0	0
2024	3	£142,000	0	0
2025	1	£50,350	0	0

At the request of the employee or their legal representative, settlement agreements may include a voluntary provision whereby the parties agree to keep the agreement itself confidential and not disclose its details to third parties. Inclusion of such a clause protects the rights of the employee who may have legitimate concerns that disclosure of the terms and circumstances of the agreement and their identity would impact negatively on their privacy and employability. The ACAS guidance provides a model settlement agreement which includes a standard confidentiality clause.

We define ‘confidentiality clause’ as referring to clauses which prevent a signatory to the agreement from disclosing its existence and/or its terms. It is important to note that that inclusion of a confidentiality clause does not – under any circumstances – prevent an employee from making a protected disclosure under whistleblowing legislation.

In the time period you have requested, there have been no cases of settlements, compromise agreements, or similar agreements which have contained a non-disclosure agreement/clause, or some other form of gagging order (such as an agreement not to criticise the employer)

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.

FOI 202500467837 - Information Released - Annex A

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