THE Scottish Government is considering plans to ease the restrictions on public sector pay in this financial year by funding a “special” pay deal for some teachers.

High-level talks have taken place about awarding a 1.5% rise to teachers who are at the top of their pay scale, despite other public sector workers getting a 1% increase.

As revealed by the Sunday Herald last week, in her Programme for Government announced on Tuesday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the 1% cap she had previously defended was on the way out.

She signalled that more generous rises would be given to hundreds of thousands of staff next year and refused to rule out income tax rises to fund public spending increases.

However, the tripartite group that determines teachers’ salaries - which includes the Government, as well as council and trade union representatives - has yet to agree a pay deal for the current year.

One of the issues being discussed is the apparent lack of professional and financial career progression for teachers who have reached the top of their pay band.

An option under consideration is for local authorities to be given extra money by the Government to fund a 1.5% rise for these teachers. However, the plan would have to be approved by all sides in the pay group.

One education source said the the cost could come to around £4million and affect around 25,000 teachers.

A critic of the plan said that other workers employed by local authorities had endured a 1% rise this year and awarding a “special” increase for some teachers was not fair. A second sceptic said the proposal would look like the Government was trying to keep teachers “sweet” just as Education Secretary John Swinney was trying to push through controversial schools policies.

Dave Watson, the Scottish Organiser for Unison, the trade union which represents local government staff, said: “It is not that others shouldn’t get a rise, but the Government should fund public authorities to finance sensible offers for all staff. A 1% rise is a real terms cut and money should be made available to other groups.”

A spokesperson for COSLA, which represents local authorities, said: “It’s not a formal proposal at this stage. We are in discussions with the tripartite group and we would have to take a proposal of this nature to council leaders.”

A spokesperson for the Scottish Government said: “Teachers’ pay and conditions of service are rightly a matter for the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT). Negotiations are currently ongoing and the Scottish Government will play its part in that process.”

A spokesperson for the EIS said: “The EIS is currently in discussions with local authority employers and the Scottish Government, via the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers, on the teachers’ pay settlement for 2017-18.

“Once this process is concluded, the EIS is committed by a 2017 AGM resolution to develop and implement a campaign with the aim of restoring members’ pay, in real terms, to that established by ‘A Teaching Profession for the 21st Century’ (also known as the McCrone Agreement).”