Hundreds of “lowest paid” workers are expected to benefit from the most recent COSLA pay offer in time for Christmas following the ongoing industrial dispute.

The GMB and Unite unions previously voted to accept a settlement made on September 21 that would see early years workers, catering, cleansing and janitorial staff benefit from an increase of £1.04 per hour. 

They also accepted a minimum increase of £1 per hour for their colleagues. 

But Unison advised their members to reject the offer, which resulted in the further closure of schools again earlier this week. 

Now a final £17.2 million to get a package worth more than half a billion over the line has been tabled by COSLA. 

It will increase the wages of the lowest paid employees by £2000 a year. 

The organisation says that members of the GMB and Unite will receive a backdated pay rise in time for Christmas but Unison still needs to decide whether or not to agree to the new offer and suspend the upcoming strike action this month. 

A statement issued by COSLA read: “After intensive talks, the Scottish Government has identified a mechanism to underwrite limited additional one-off funding which can meet the extra demands of Unison.  

“This will now allow councils to put additional funding into the offer, allowing all elements of the current offer to be backdated. Leaders recognise the importance of getting money into the pockets of our workforce as early as possible and today’s decisions will hopefully make that possible.

“Given that an extremely strong offer was made to our trade unions back in April and then revised in September, it is disappointing that reaching an agreement has taken so long. 

“But the priority of leaders today is ensuring that nobody is left out of pocket ahead of the winter period, especially given the ongoing pressures of the cost-of-living crisis.

“We remain fully committed to working in partnership with all of our Trade Union partners.  

“This is the final £17.2m to get a package worth more than half a billion over the line which will increase the wages of our lowest paid employees by £2000 a year, for the second year in succession, in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis.

“We call on Unison to put the decision of leaders today to their members and give the workforce the chance to decide. In doing so we would very much hope that they stand down all strike action to ensure our children and young people experience no further disruption.”

The GMB who issued a plea for a settlement to be reached last week is hopeful that the money will reach their members in time for Christmas.

Chris Mitchell, GMB convenor, said: “This is brilliant news today and COSLA is going to put the money into the banks of our members. 

“It has been a lot of hard work and campaigning over the last couple of weeks to get this result.

“It is a sigh of relief for hundreds of low paid workers that were depending on this backdated money.”

Unison has been approached for comment.