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Publication - Statistics

Public Sector Employment in Scotland Statistics for 1st Quarter 2026

Published
18 June 2026
Directorate
Chief Economist Directorate
Topic
Economy, Public sector, Work and skills

Statistics based on administrative records and surveys of individual public sector bodies carried out by the Scottish Government and the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This is a snapshot of employment as at March 2026.

Part of

Supporting documents

Devolved Public Sector Employment in Scotland; Headcount

The devolved public sector includes:

  • Devolved Civil Service
  • Local Government, covering Scottish Local Authorities, Police and Fire Services (up to Q1 2013), Valuation Joint Boards and Regional Transport Partnerships
  • Police and Fire Services (Q2 2013 onwards)
  • NHS in Scotland
  • Further Education Colleges
  • Devolved Public Corporations
  • Other Devolved Public Bodies (which covers Non-Departmental Bodies and other bodies)

Employment in the devolved public sector was 553,900 in March 2026. This is 3,770 (0.7%) higher than the level in March 2025 (550,100).  This increase is largely due to an increase in NHS employment of 3,000 (1.6%).

Figure 5: Local Government and NHS employ the largest number of people in the devolved public sector

Breakdown of devolved public sector employment (Headcount) in Scotland as at March 2026

Figure 5. bar chart of devolved Public Sector Employment showing relative size of sectors within the public sector

Note: Totals may not equal the sum of the individual parts due to rounding

Source: Public Sector Employment in Scotland, Quarter 1 2026 from the Scottish Government. For Figure 5 data, see Table 3.

The increase over the year in the devolved public sector headcount was due to the following changes (changes are given from March 2025 to March 2026):

  • employment in NHS increased by 3,000 (1.6%) to 191,300[1]
  • employment in Local Government increased by 720 (0.3%) to 262,000
  • employment in Devolved Civil Service increased by 370 (1.3%) to 29,200
  • employment in Public Corporations increased by 210 (2.4%) to 9,000

while:

  • employment in Further Education Colleges decreased by 410 (-3.3%) to 11,800
  • employment in Police and Fire Related Services decreased by 90 (-0.3%) to 27,500
  • employment in Other Public Bodies decreased by 40 (-0.2%) to 23,200

Figure 6: Public Corporations had the largest percentage increase over the year across the devolved public sector

Change in devolved public sector employment (Headcount) in Scotland from March 2025 to March 2026

Source: Public Sector Employment in Scotland, Quarter 1 2026 from the Scottish Government. For Figure 6 data, see Table 3.

[1] NHS employment statistics for the number of staff directly employed by NHS Scotland (headcount) were published by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) on 2 June 2026, with data relating to 31 March 2026 in their NHS Scotland official workforce statistics publication

Contact

For enquiries about this publication please contact:

Labour Market Statistics,
Office of the Chief Economic Adviser
E-mail: LMStats@gov.scot

For general enquiries about Scottish Government statistics please contact:

Office of the Chief Statistician
E-mail: statistics.enquiries@gov.scot

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