HARD-PRESSED Civil Service workers delivered a birthday message to Scottish Finance Minister Derek Mackay yesterday, demanding an end to the “unsustainable” public-sector pay cap.

Public-service union PCS members gathered in Edinburgh to hand deliver a card to the birthday boy signed by hundreds of Scottish government workers, which read: “Share a piece of the cake with your employees.”

Under pressure from trade unions and from Labour’s general election pledge to lift the 1 per cent cap, Mr Mackay confirmed last month that the cap would not feature in next year’s pay policy.

PCS welcomed this move but warned that Mr Mackay’s commitment would not deal with the “crisis in living standards” that the majority of workers are currently facing.

Inflation is currently at 3.5 per cent and PCS has warned that their members have already seen a 20 per cent drop in living standards since the cruel cap was imposed.

PCS national officer Lynn Henderson said: “Scottish ministers have the power to end the pay cap today.

“Jam tomorrow does not pay the bills and they should do everything in their power now to make up for the years of austerity.

“We want to wish the minister a happy birthday and remind him that while age may just be a number, the 1 per cent pay cap isn’t. “It has created real, genuine hardship for ordinary working people.”

Mr Mackay said: “This government has already committed to ending the 1 per cent pay cap in future years and we will set out our plans in the budget.”