SHAMED bosses at taxpayer-owned Prestwick Airport have committed to raising staff salaries next year after the facility was criticised for failing to pay the real living wage.

Transport Secretary Michael Matheson said the airport had pledged to pay all its employees more than the minimum wage from April.

It comes ahead of the hub’s wider commitment to pay all staff at least the real living wage by 2020/21.

Earlier this month, The Herald revealed Prestwick is still advertising jobs which fail to pay the real living wage, despite Nicola Sturgeon urging all employers to do so.

Prestwick was bought by the Scottish Government for £1 in late 2013, and has since swallowed up more than £50million of public funding.

Ministers explain the pay gap by saying the airport is run at arms-length, despite the Scottish Government being its sole shareholder and lending it tens of millions to stay afloat.

An advert for “aviation ground security officers” on the airport’s website, which had a closing date of December 9, stated they would be paid the bare minimum of £7.83 per hour – substantially less than the £9 real living wage.

Mr Matheson wrote to Scottish Labour MSP James Kelly after he raised the issue in Holyrood.

The Transport Secretary insisted the Scottish Government has “long championed paying the real living wage”.

He added: “With regard to Prestwick Airport, the funding provided by the Scottish Government to date has and continues to support employment in and around the airport.

“As you are aware, Prestwick Airport is operated on a commercial basis and at arm’s length from the Scottish Government, in compliance with European Union state aid rules.

“Decisions on pay at the airport are the responsibility of Prestwick Airport’s senior management team.

“Whilst the Scottish Government do not intervene in pay matters, we encourage Prestwick Airport, as we do all employers, to pay the real living wage.”

Mr Matheson said the airport had made a commitment to pay the real living wage by April 2020.

But he also revealed bosses have pledged to pay staff more than the national living wage of £7.83 an hour from next year.

He added: “The level of increase above the national living wage will be subject to further discussions between the unions and the airport, with the aim to have these 2019/20 pay levels in place for April 2019.”

Mr Kelly accused the SNP of needing to be “publicly called out before ministers take notice”.

He said: “It shouldn’t need press questioning and a challenge to the First Minister for the government to admit it is paying poverty wages.

“Nicola Sturgeon and her government have a poor record on workers’ rights and this is yet another case of their promises turning out to be empty rhetoric.”

Labour previously branded Ms Sturgeon a hypocrite after she criticised the Ministry of Defence for paying more than 200 civilian staff less than the living wage during First Minister’s Questions.

She said: “The MoD and all Government agencies should pay the real living wage. The Scottish Government is a real living wage employer.”

SNP MSP Gordon Macdonald also said it was a “disgrace that hard-working staff are being ripped off by penny-pinching bosses at the MoD”.

Prestwick, whose latest accounts show the total cost of directors’ remuneration has risen, did not respond to requests for comment.