The SNP’s public finance minister has refused to restate the Scottish Government’s 16-year commitment to “no compulsory redundancy” as it tries to shrink its workforce.

Tom Arthur told MSPs that the government “wants to avoid” sacking workers, but classed it as one of several “aims and ambitions” rather than a guarantee.

The government announced last year that the public sector workforce would have to return to pre-Covid levels after it climbed on the back of extra spending during the pandemic.

The SNP has had a commitment to No Compulsory Redundancy (NCR) since it came to power in 2007, and restated it as recently as March in its pay strategy for 2023/24. 

However it faces unprecedented strain as it prepares its budget for 2024/25, with spending presently predicted to exceed income by £1billion.

Finance Secretary Shona Robison last week said inflation-driven pay deals had added £1.75bn across the public sector, some £800m more than ministers had budgeted for.

READ MORE: Less than half of Scots now think country's police doing a good job

On Sunday, she appeared to back away from NCR in a TV appearance on BBC Scotland. 

Speaking in the wake of Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement last week, she said Scottish ministers would maintain NCR “if we can”.

She said: “The size of the workforce will have to reduce, there’s no doubt about that.

“We have a position of no compulsory redundancies.

“That’s a position that we have held over many years.

“I don’t want it to change, but there is clearly a relationship between headcount and pay.

“I don’t resent at all the pay increases that we’ve had to give to public sector workers because of the levels of inflation.

“We’ve always been clear that there is a relationship between headcount and pay.

“But we want to maintain that position of no compulsory redundancies if we can.”

It led to trade union leaders demanding an urgent meeting with Ms Robison.

In a topical question at Holyrood today, Labour MSP Daniel Johnson asked Mr Arthur to give an update on the workforce reductions predicted by Ms Robison.

The minister said the UK autumn statement meant “austerity” for public services, and Ms Robison would say more when she published her budget for 2024/25 next month.

Mr Johnson said Ms Robison’s comments would cause civil servants across Scotland “anxiety” and asked where the reduced headcount would happen given the NHS was protected, and asked Mr Arthur to “guarantee” NCR and meet trade unions.

READ MORE: Harvie axes pledge to clean up 1m homes as heat pumps plan unveiled

Mr Arthur replied: “We are in this situation because of a range of factors. 

“Clearly the impact of inflation has been significant. But we are also here because of the decisions taken by the UK Government.

“As the deputy First Minister has already stated, we are committed to protecting health and we want to avoid compulsory redundancies.

“And of course we are committed to engaging constructively with all of our partners across the public sector to achieve those aims and ambitions.”

Mr Johnson accused the government of incompetence and failing to plan ahead for its workforce, with headcount in devolved areas up  by 7,000 or almost 40% since 2019.

He asked if Covid funds from the Treasury had been used to expand the workforce despite promises to use it on one-off spending, suggesting it was “grossly incompetent if not outright cruel” to create jobs only to cut them again months later.

Mr Arthur said it was Westminster’s handling of the UK economy which was incompetent and the Scottish Government had been transparent about its Covid spending.

“I recognise that we are in an exceptionally challenging set of circumstances, but it is not unique to Scotland,” he said, adding the Welsh government faced similar challenges.