AN MSP has challenged ministers in Scotland to end the government’s two-tier workforce after it emerged that the use of agency workers to fill temporary jobs has increased by more than 50 per cent in just three years. 

West Scotland Labour MSP Katy Clark has accused the government of having “second class employees” after new figures showed casual staff were used to fill 432 temporary posts so far this year, up from 268 in 2018. 

There was a sharp increase in the number of temporary agency workers recruited during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic from 258 to 432, the official figures showed. 

The response to questions also revealed that the Scottish government currently employees 322 temporary staff across its ministerial directorates. 

The figures, released through written questions to Deputy First Minister John Swinney, also reveal the number of senior staff in government departments on fixed-term contracts is up from 208 in 2020 to 322.

But the findings only cover executive positions, leading to concerns that the casualisation of work in the Scottish government is much more widespread.     

Ms Clark said that the SNP leadership must explain its reasoning as a matter of urgency. 

She said: “These temporary agency workers are doing the same job as their permanent colleagues, but often have poorer rights, with limited sick pay, lesser holiday entitlement, and no bereavement leave.

“It’s particularly worrying that during the first year of the pandemic there was such a big increase in short-term agency recruitment.

“It’s clear from the government’s own figures that it has badly let workers down over job security and equal employment rights, during the greatest crisis Scotland has lived through since World War II.”

A government spokesman said that temporary and agency workers provide the flexibility required to meet immediate business and skills needs and the increase in usage reflects the changing needs due to the Covid-19 pandemic.