HUNDREDS of thousands of Scots council workers and teachers are in line for a pay rise of 2.5 per cent after union leaders agreed a deal with employers.

A ballot of members of teaching union the EIS returned 83 per cent in favour of the two-year deal, averting the threat of significant industrial action.

The EIS had previous refused the offer, backdated to April, claiming it failed to address concerns on excessive workload, safeguarding teacher numbers and restoring short-term supply teachers.

An agreement has also been reached on a pay deal for Scottish council workers.

Local government body Cosla said it welcomed trade unions' acceptance of the 2.5 per cent rise, again over two years.

But in the context of mounting financial pressures on local government, which is already looking at a black hole of over £1billion in the next two years, Cosla warned councils would find it difficult to find the money to fund the increase.

Billy Hendry, human resources spokesman at Cosla, said the deal would put "much-needed additional money into o the pockets of our highly valued and hardworking workforce".

He added: "This is good news for our workforce and good news for our local economies which is vital at the moment.

‘We don’t always agree, but the Trade Union negotiators bargained hard and delivered a very fair deal for their members.

"Two-and-a-half per cent over two years is difficult for councils in a prolonged period of budget constraints, but we made every effort to show the workforce that they are doing a great job in very difficult times for local government and that we notice and appreciate this.

"Times are set to get even tougher with deeper cuts in public expenditure widely predicted and we will need to work closely with the trade unions to support our workforce and continue to deliver vital services to our communities."

Meanwhile, trade union leaders in Glasgow have called on the local authority to borrow cash and dip into its reserves to fend off the impact of over £100million in cuts in the next two financial years.

A statement signed by all the major unions also called for an alliance of the workforce representatives, cross-party councillors, service users and the voluntary sector to put pressure on the Scottish and UK Governments over cuts.

It said: "Overall the trade unions call on the Scottish Government to change its policy on restricting funding for local government services."