The pay claim, which was submitted in May is set out below:

1. A cost of living rise set at a level that enables members to at least maintain their standard of living. (PCS believes this should be set at 5% with a cash underpin of £1200; Prospect and FDA believe it should be at least in line with RPI.)  All work undertaken by civil servants should be fully paid for irrespective of grade and action taken to eliminate unpaid overtime.

2. SG to work with the unions to ensure all employers become a Living Wage accredited employer by the end of 2017 and work towards paying a living wage of £10 an hour.

3. Payment of progression and shorter journey times.

4. A guarantee of no compulsory redundancies.

5. 35 hour working week (net) and 30 days' leave on entry.

6. A full pay and grading review in Scottish Government, mainly based on the agreed job evaluation process.

7. Pay coherence across the Scottish devolved sector. National bargaining at Scottish Government level on pay for all staff in the civil service and its related bodies in order to: establish a common pay and grading structure across the service; establish equal pay for work of equal value across the service and to eradicate the inequities caused by the delegated bargaining system.

8. Equality as a central feature of pay determination with regular equal pay audits: an equality audit on the outcome of this year’s pay review and a full equal pay audit in 2017 and a commitment to sharing the results of both with the trade unions.

9. All service-related benefits are available to all staff within five years or less.

Public sector pay restraint was a key issue in the recent general election, particularly in Scotland where the First Minister expressed a view that ongoing pay restraint was "unsustainable".

This echoed comments she made to Prospect at a meeting in May before the election was called.

However, despite clear signals that the days of automatic pay restraint are over, the Scottish Government has made it clear that the current pay negotiations will be covered by the current public sector pay policy.

Prospect national secretary for Scotland, Richard Hardy, said: "This is clearly an unacceptable situation, the First Minsister has sent a clear signal that the days of this pernicious pay restraint policy are over and yet our members will have to wait until August 2018 before they benefit.

"With inflation on the rise, we cannot sit by and watch our members' salaries further eroded and we are seeking ways for the Scottish Government to put more money in peoples' pockets quickly, in line with what the First Minister has said.

"We understand the budgetary process, but we believe there are ways and means by which this situation can be resolved."

Negotiations are continuing with a further meeting planned for 27 June.