Local Government is UNISON Scotland’s biggest service group. Its remit covers a range of employees including those of all of Scotland’s councils, Direct Labour and Direct Service Organisations, Trusts, Joint Boards, voluntary and related organisations and private companies.
For information on our pay campaign, industrial action and ballot – got to our campaigns page
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Catch up with the latest updates at Fighting for Scottish Council Workers

Latest updates
Briefing 158 – Care Reform (Scotland) Bill passes
On 10 June, the Care Reform (Scotland) Bill was passed. This briefing gives an overview of its provisions. The Act ... Read More
Local government staff to be balloted on new two-year pay offer, says UNISON
Council staff are to be balloted after unions received a two-year pay offer from local government employers Cosla, says UNISON ... Read More
Briefing 157 – Care Management: Fit for purpose?
Care Management is the process for assessing individuals’ needs for social care services. It is integral to the social care ... Read More
Falling local government pay
Local government real terms pay loss examples These real examples show how much local government pay has fallen since the ... Read More
Briefing 154 – Consultation on rent control exemptions
The Housing (Scotland) Bill will introduce a system of long-term rent controls. This briefing gives an overview of the Government ... Read More
e brief Local Government Budgets 2025/26
Audit Scotland has published its assessment of local authority budgets for 2025/26. This e brief presents the headlines. The Audit ... Read More
Double whammy for local government workers
Commenting on Audit Scotland’s Local Government Budgets 2025/6 report and latest inflation figures, UNISON Scotland’s regional manager Kay Sillars said today (Thursday): “Council ... Read More
Local government workers’ strike ballot begins in dispute over pay, says UNISON
Tens of thousands of council staff in Scotland will receive formal ballot papers from today (Thursday) as they choose whether ... Read More
Council staff to be issued with strike ballots in dispute over pay, says UNISON
Scotland’s largest union is balloting council staff across Scotland, in the largest vote of its kind in recent years, says ... Read More
Briefing 153 – COSLA’s pay offer: the facts
This bargaining briefing gives the facts about COSLA's pay offer of 17 February. COSLA’s 3% pay offer is a real ... Read More
More Local Government News
Latest local government briefings
UNISON Week 318 – UNISON ballots council workers on strike action, National Care Service Consultation and more.

UNISON Week 318 - UNISON ballots council workers on strike action, National Care Service Consultation and more. Read full newsletter ...
e-brief: National Care Service Consultation

The Scottish Government has published its proposals for a National Care Service. The three-month consultation period ends on 18 October ...
e-briefing Implementing The Promise

This e-briefing explains The Promise 'Change Programme' and includes four action points for local government branches. The Independent Care Review ...
FOI Briefing – Introducing FOI / Free Training / Scottish Public Information Forum

It is simple and straightforward for anyone to use their information rights and make a Freedom of Information (FOI) request ...
More on briefings page
Latest responses and submissions
Scrutiny of the Draft Budget 2015-2016

These are tough times for local government: services are being squeezed and so are the living standards of the workers ...
Future Model for Community Justice in Scotland response

UNISON Scotland responded to the consultation on "Redesigning the Community Justice System" in April 2013 in which we supported Option ...
Draft Budget 2015-16 Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee response

The call for evidence has two parts: ‘Increase exports’ – focusing on the ‘increase exports’ national indicator2 in the National ...
Health Inequalities in Scotland

This paper on health inequalities in Scotland was developed as our submission to the Health Inequalities Review commissioned by Neil ...
More on responses page