“Crushing disappointment” and missed opportunity over Living Wage in Scotland

Campaigners have welcomed clauses in the procurement bill covering zero hours contracts and blacklisting, but say the new legislation will not address low pay rates in public sector

Campaigners have reacted angrily to a decision by SNP ministers in Scotland to exclude the Living Wage from their proposed new structure for awarding public contracts.

The procurement bill, which was published yesterday (04 October) will cover all publicly-funded construction and other work north of the border.

Scotland’s public procurement contracts are worth £9bn a year. Officials estimate 45,000 businesses bid for publicly-funded work.

Unions have welcomed provisions in the bill which would allow ministers or councils to exclude a company from bidding for publicly-funded work if they have been involved in blacklisting or been engaged in the “inappropriate” use of zero hours contracts.

The bill also requires the Scottish government and local authorities north of the border to ensure that community benefits and training are built into all contracts worth more than £4m.

The Bill will also give ministers power to make regulations and issue guidance in a number of key areas, including:

• Extending the grounds for excluding bidders, including defining what constitutes “grave professional” misconduct. Officials say this could be used “to help address improper and unacceptable practices” like blacklisting.
• Guidance around a supplier’s approach to workforce matters. This will mean that purchasers can consider whether matters such as inappropriate use of zero hours contracts or levels of remuneration may affect the quality of service that a company is likely to provide.

However, low wage campaigners had hoped that the bill would also enshrine a commitment to paying Living Wage rates as part of the new framework for publicly-funded contracts.

Peter Kelly of the Scottish Living Wage Campaign said: “The fact that the Scottish government now pays the living wage to all of its employees makes the decision to exclude the Living Wage from the Procurement Reform Bill all the more disappointing.

“We believe that if the political will and commitment is there, then a way could have been found to ensure that the Living Wage became part of procurement process in Scotland.

“This is a missed opportunity for the Scottish Government to ensure that this money can help tackle the problem of low pay.”

The deputy general secretary of the Scottish TUC Dave Moxham said: “For some time now a consensus has been emerging that endemic low pay is a serious economic and social problem in Scotland.

“Therefore, it’s come as a crushing disappointment to learn that the Scottish government’s Procurement Reform Bill includes not a single reference to the Living Wage.

“Not only is the Living Wage absent from the body of the Bill, there’s also no mention in the associated Policy Memorandum. Anyone looking at these papers would be completely unaware that the Living Wage has been and remains a key campaigning priority for the range of stakeholders involved in the campaign.

“If the Scottish Government believes that nothing more can be done through procurement to extend the Living Wage then it must urgently bring forward alternative proposals. Indeed, these should have been published alongside the Bill.

“If the Scottish Government’s oft stated commitment to fairness and equality is to be taken at all seriously then it really should start to get real on the Living Wage”.

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