Scottish redeployment pools cost taxpayers at least £27m a year

Around 800 Scottish public sector workers are being paid despite having no fixed role, costing taxpayers at least £27 million a year. The figures have prompted calls for an investigation into how the practice is managed and whether public money is being used effectively.

Workers are held in redeployment pools while they wait for another post, often doing temporary or less senior duties. At least 255 have been without a fixed role for over a year and 49 for five years or more; one NHS Highland employee has reportedly been in this position for 17 years. The article links the practice to Scotland’s ban on compulsory redundancies, introduced in 2007, and notes that the total cost may be higher because some organisations did not disclose salaries.