{"id":670768,"date":"2026-01-03T08:23:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T08:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/670768\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T08:23:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T08:23:14","slug":"scottish-councils-shell-out-nearly-63m-on-lucrative-exit-packages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/670768\/","title":{"rendered":"Scottish councils shell\u00a0out\u00a0nearly \u00a363m on lucrative exit packages"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOCAL councils in Scotland, including\u00a0the City of Edinburgh Council,\u00a0have\u00a0shelled out\u00a0nearly \u00a363m on \u201cgolden goodbye\u201d exit packages for high-earning members of staff.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Research into the annual accounts of local authorities in Scotland by the Scottish Conservatives<\/a> has revealed that the amount spent by councils on exit packages worth over \u00a3100,000 topped \u00a321m\u00a0last year and \u00a363 million since 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n

North Lanarkshire Council<\/a> topped the list with more than \u00a315m\u00a0distributed, followed by Glasgow\u00a0City Council, with more than \u00a311m\u00a0spent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The City of Edinburgh Council did not distribute\u00a0nearly as\u00a0much, with just \u00a31.1m\u00a0being divided among high-earning employees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>The City Chambers in Edinburgh, where the City of Edinburgh Counil is based, and from where \u00a31.1 million on large exit packages was dispensed (C) Kim Traynor \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n

The Scottish Conservatives, who gathered the data, described the council workers who were in receipt of payouts as \u201cfat cats\u201d who are \u201cwasting\u201d public money.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Scottish Conservative shadow finance and local government secretary Craig Hoy MSP said: \u201cHard-working Scots\u00a0who\u2019ve\u00a0been hammered by rising council taxes will be furious that councils have shelled out millions on golden goodbyes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur local services are at breaking point, but instead of fixing the issues that\u00a0actually matter, council bosses are allowing the bill for public-sector payouts to balloon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTaxpayers are sick of SNP- and Labour-run councils spending their money on the wrong priorities while our frontline services are on their knees.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

This comes just after\u00a0Cosla<\/a>, the umbrella organisation for Scottish Councils called for \u00a316bn\u00a0in funding from the Scottish Government to ensure no vital services are cut.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Council leaders warned that vital services may have to be cut if no\u00a0additional\u00a0funding is forthcoming.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Scottish Government\u2019s\u00a0finance\u00a0minister, Shone Robison, will set the new Scottish budget on 13 January, her announcement having been delayed by UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves\u2019 late statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was also revealed in the Conservatives\u2019 research that the amount paid out in large packages has increased from \u00a312.6m\u00a0in 2022-23 to\u00a0\u00a321.9m\u00a0in 2024-25.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the figures, North Lanarkshire Council spent the most on large payouts over the four-year period, handing out more than \u00a315.4m, followed by Glasgow City Council, which spent \u00a311.3m\u00a0and Renfrewshire Council, which distributed \u00a37.9m.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The City of Edinburgh Council paid out \u00a31.3m, Aberdeen Council spent \u00a33.9m, and Stirling Council distributed\u00a0\u00a32.7m\u00a0in \u201cgolden goodbyes\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Six local authorities \u2013 Midlothian, West Lothian, East Ayrshire,\u00a0Orkeney, Shetland, and South Lanarkshire \u2013 did not make any payments of over \u00a3100,000 for exit packages, according to figures.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cosla\u00a0has been approached for comment.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOCAL councils in Scotland, including\u00a0the City of Edinburgh Council,\u00a0have\u00a0shelled out\u00a0nearly \u00a363m on \u201cgolden goodbye\u201d exit packages for high-earning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":643775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,30441,159752,1102,37802,204233,10650,204234,4884,81886,56235,712,204235,204236,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-670768","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-city-of-edinburgh-council","10":"tag-cosla","11":"tag-edinburgh","12":"tag-edinburgh-council","13":"tag-exit-packages","14":"tag-glasgow-city-council","15":"tag-golden-goodbyes","16":"tag-great-britain","17":"tag-local-councils","18":"tag-north-lanarkshire-council","19":"tag-scotland","20":"tag-scotland-councils","21":"tag-scottish-conservatives","22":"tag-uk","23":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115830207746771295","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}