A TYPICAL council worker in West Dunbartonshire is almost £3,500 worse off under the SNP, Dumbarton MSP Jackie Baillie has claimed.

But SNP council leader Jonathan McColl accused Ms Baillie of “hypocrisy” over the issue.

Research by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre showed that an average council employee would have earned £31,978 a year in April 2017 had wages risen in line with inflation, but instead, the average employee earned £28,533 a year in April 2017.

Labour claim council staff are facing an increasing workload while their pay has been stagnating Ms Baillie said: “Thousands of council jobs have been cut across Scotland as a result of local government budgets being slashed under the SNP government, yet the typical council worker is now £3,500 worse off.

“The employees who deliver these frontline services deserve fair pay for a day’s work. They should not be expected to take on more and more responsibilities while their pay is not keeping up with inflation.

“The result of cuts to council budgets are being felt by people in communities like Dumbarton and the Vale of Leven as council staff struggle to keep providing services with reduced budgets and reduced capacity.”

In 2017, median gross weekly full-time earnings in Scotland were £547.30. On the basis of a 37 hour week, this is equivalent to £14.79 per hour.

According to data from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA), an employee at this point on the local government pay scale would have received £14.83 per hour in 2017-18, or £28,533 on the basis of a 37-hour week, compared to £25,358 10 years previously – an increase of 12.5 per cent.

However, over the same period, inflation, as calculated by the Consumer Price Index, has increased by 26.1 per cent – meaning that if local government pay had increased in line with inflation, a worker at that point on the pay scale would have been paid £16.62 per hour by April 2017, or £31,978 per year, based on a 37-hour week.

“This is a difference of £3,445 per year compared with what they are actually being paid,” added Ms Baillie.

In response Cllr McColl, leader of the SNP administration at West Dunbartonshire Council, said: “Jackie’s crocodile tears over people’s finances betray her hypocrisy.

“Not even four years ago she joined with her Tory mates to campaign to keep us under the thumb of a UK Parliament that continues to fail the people Scotland, nay, bleed us dry.

“The Labour/Tory austerity we’ve been subjected to for the past decade has been bad news for everyone, not just public sector employees.

“I don’t know anyone whose pay has kept pace with the cost of living. Only Labour’s high paid bankers’ friends seem unaffected.

“In West Dunbartonshire this year, the council had about £1m of a deficit.

“If Labour had balanced the budget in a responsible way last year instead of trying to bribe voters with an unfunded council tax freeze and a raid on one-off reserves, we would have had a surplus of more £2.5m.

“I hope Jackie reflects on that when she complains about local finances.”