SNP minister admits it will 'take some time' to redeploy 'ghost workers' who have no formal role

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Cite

Scottish, M. B. (2026, October 26). SNP minister admits it will 'take some time' to redeploy 'ghost workers' who have no formal role. Daily Mail. https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16240541/SNP-minister-admits-time-redeploy-ghost-workers-no-formal-role.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

Daily Mail · collected 2026-10-26 · by Michael Blackley Scottish

Quick Summary

A senior Scottish National Party (SNP) minister admitted that it will take time to redeploy "ghost workers" in the public sector who no longer have formal roles but continue to be paid. Social Security Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville acknowledged that while the SNP policy forbids compulsory redundancies, all affected employees should ideally find new permanent positions. However, she conceded that this process might encounter delays and could take significant time to complete effectively. The Scottish Tories estimated that the annual cost of these ghost workers is around £27 million, which is enough to hire 584 junior doctors.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-26, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

As of October 26, 2026, £27 million annually of taxpayers' money is being used to pay salaries for approximately 800 public sector workers in Scotland, including those from the NHS, Scottish Government, councils, and quangos, despite their roles no longer existing. The most extreme case involves an NHS Highland worker who has received full salary payments for up to 17 years without a specific job role due to the SNP government's ban on compulsory redundancies since 2007. Social Security Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville admitted that redeploying these "ghost workers" can take significant time, though she emphasized the importance of reassigning them effectively. The Scottish Conservatives estimate this funding could hire 584 junior doctors annually, highlighting concerns over financial mismanagement and inefficiency in public sector employment practices.

Written for “Ghost Workers In Scottish Public Sector” on 2026-10-26, grounded in this article and the 2 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it -0.35, but all 2 of its quote(s) are attributed speech - words the article quotes from someone, not the article's own narration, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 108719: attributed speech only · logged 2026-10-26

Story

📰 Ghost Workers In Scottish Public Sector
Politics · 3 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 5% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Daily Mail
⚖️ Leans strongly right 🔴 33% hedged 13 of 39 📰 publisher trust 66
“Both articles discuss the same issue of 'ghost workers' in Scotland's public sector and cite the same annual cost to taxpayers.”
Daily Mail · 0.87 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 3% hedged 1 of 30 📰 publisher trust 66
“While both articles discuss the issue of 'ghost workers' in the Scottish public sector and mention similar details, Article A focuses on the financial implications and scandalous nature of the situation, while Article B reports on a minister's admission about the difficulty of redeploying these workers. They are reporting on different aspects of the same broader issue.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
22
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
5%
1 of 22 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
66/100
Daily Mail's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
3
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-26 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Daily Mail · 7638 article(s) · 16 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 16 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Michael Blackley Scottish
12 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 She added: ‘In some situations, that may take some time to ensure that people are redeployed effectively.
🔮 The workers might ordinarily have been made redundant but this cannot happen due to the SNP Government’s ban on compulsory redundancies.
2026-10-25 · assertive framing · £27m for 'ghost workers'
in Scottish public sector
🔮 I will not put up with that same kind of abusive, misogynistic behaviour that I have been subjected to from the leadership clique here in Scotland.
🔮 It followed his announcement in his SNP conference address that the move would be completed through franchising and regulation by 2031.
🔮 He is expected to promote his plan for deeper devolution from Westminster to local communities of Scotland – but is set to steer clear of the North East amid mounting concern about the impact of job losses caused by his government’s approach to North Sea licensing and taxation.
🔮 Ms Stevenson then asked whether Transport Scotland’s staff would be transferred to the Scottish Government via TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment), legislation under the SNP’s plan to bring it back into the core Scottish Government.
🔮 On the continuing work to develop the new Mycare.scot app, which will not be completed until 2030, they said: ‘License the English NHS app.
🔮 - Click here to visit the Scotland home page for the latest news and sport - See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source Scotland risks missing out on increased defence spending if persistent skills shortages are not addressed while the negative approach to the industry by the SNP Government may be damaging jobs, a new report by a powerful Westminster committee warns.
🔮 ‘This is a clueless First Minister who cannot say how many NHS jobs could be lost, yet expects Scots to believe he has a grip on the SNP’s £5billion budget black hole.
🔮 - Click here to visit the Scotland home page for the latest news and sport - See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source Andy Burnham has been told to issue a directive forcing the SNP Government to stop spending money on ‘fake’ foreign embassies and independence, after it was revealed that the number of overseas offices is set to soar beyond 40. Lord George Foulkes is lobbying the Prime Minister and Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander to take a tougher approach on stopping the Holyrood administration from spending money in areas reserved to the UK Government.
Also by Michael Blackley Scottish
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 12 articles by Michael Blackley Scottish →

Topics

NHS SNP Scotland Scottish Social Security

Subjects

SNP ORG · 4× Scottish NORP · 4× NHS ORG · 3× Scotland GPE · 2× Shirley-Anne Somerville PERSON · 2× BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast ORG · 1× Highland NORP · 1× Social Security ORG · 1× Somerville PERSON · 1× Tories NORP · 1×

Narrative

It follows the revelations at the weekend that at least £27million a year of taxpayers’ money is being used on the salaries of staff in the Scottish Government, NHS, councils and quangos even though they no longer have a fixed role because their previous position is no longer needed.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-26
🔮 She added: ‘In some situations, that may take some time to ensure that people are redeployed effectively.

Claims (22 extracted, 1 hedged)

Redeploying public sector workers whose jobs have been axed can ‘take some time’, a senior SNP minister has said after it was revealed hundreds of ‘ghost workers’ have been paid up to 17 years despite having no formal role. asserted
hundreds → redeploy → role
Social Security Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said all workers whose role is abolished should be redeployed in a new permanent job – but admitted there can be delays. asserted
role → say → job
It comes as the Scottish Tories estimated that the annual cost of ‘ghost workers’ is enough to hire 584 junior doctors. asserted
cost → come → doctors
It follows the revelations at the weekend that at least £27million a year of taxpayers’ money is being used on the salaries of staff in the Scottish Government, NHS, councils and quangos even though they no longer have a fixed role because their previous position is no longer needed. asserted
position → follow → role
They can’t be forced out of their job because of the SNP’s no compulsory redundancy rule. asserted
They → force → rule
In the most extreme case, one NHS Highland worker had been receiving their full salary for 17 years despite no longer having a specific job role. asserted
worker → receive → role
Asked about the issue on BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast yesterday, Ms Somerville said: ‘What is very important is that we do have a policy as the Government about no compulsory redundancies but what we also expect is for public bodies to be able to redeploy their staff. asserted
bodies → ask → staff
‘So if, for example, there are changes to structures, changes that require people to move, then redeployment is exactly what should be happening and other roles should be found for people. asserted
roles → be → people
‘That is the right thing for the public purse and I think the right thing for those individuals.’ asserted
I → think → individuals
Shirley-Anne Somerville said all workers whose role is abolished should be redeployed in a new permanent job She said every public body should be redeploying staff and encouraging training and development if required. asserted
body → say → training
She added: ‘In some situations, that may take some time to ensure that people are redeployed effectively. uncertain
people → add → time
That is the expectation that goes along with the policy around compulsory redundancies.’ asserted
that → go → redundancies
The Sunday Times newspaper revealed details of the 800 cases of Scottish public sector workers who are deemed to have no fixed role, with their salaries costing at least £27million a year. asserted
salaries → reveal → 27million
The true cost is likely to be higher as several public bodies refused to provide the salaries for those awaiting redeployment. asserted
bodies → refuse → redeployment
Some 255 workers across the Scottish public sector have not had a fixed job for more than a year, while at least 49 have been in this situation for five years or more. asserted
49 → have → years
The Scottish Conservatives said that at least £27.6million spent on ghost workers includes £21.8million funded by the Scottish Government, which is enough to hire 584 new junior doctors. asserted
which → say → doctors
Scottish Conservative public service reform spokesman Murdo Fraser said: ‘The hundreds of ghost workers being employed in Scotland’s public sector is the latest appalling example of the SNP’s total disregard for taxpayers’ money. asserted
hundreds → say → money
‘John Swinney and his ministers have allowed the costs of Scotland’s public sector to spiral out of control, and they are not serious about reining them in. asserted
they → allow → them
Taxpayers’ should never be footing the bill to pay the salaries of people whose jobs no longer even exist. asserted
jobs → foot → people
This sums up the madness of the SNP’s no compulsory redundancies policy, which they should ditch immediately. asserted
they → sum → which
‘Swinney should be looking at making redundancy mandatory if alternative roles are not available for people to move into. asserted
people → look → ?
Hard-pressed Scots would much rather their money was funding the salaries of frontline staff like junior doctors to help our NHS which is in permanent crisis mode, rather than funding ghost workers.’ asserted
which → press → workers
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