It is important to emphasise how hard COSLA and Scottish Government officials worked to identify the £80 million—which, to be fair, everyone thought was the ask of the unions to settle the dispute—in a way that did not impact on front-line services. That was not easy to do and it took a huge amount of work. It feels as if we have pushed that envelope to the end, which is why COSLA will be keen to talk about the road map to £15 an hour, because there could be a cost this year. This year is particularly difficult; we cannot change the income this year.

If there is a suggestion that that is where Unison is going, I hope that it articulates that clearly so that COSLA can discuss that with Unison. COSLA is working hard to discuss with Unison what the asks are, because no one wants the dispute to go on for any longer than it has to.