Highland Council say 10% of staff grievances upheld – the same ratio who reported bullying in 2023 but bosses remain tight-lipped about reasons for complaints
Highland Council has confirmed that ten per cent of staff grievances were upheld, which is the same proportion who reported bullying through an external survey about 18 months ago.
The numbers were produced to answer a question from the leader of the opposition Alasdair Christie who asked also about the “nature” of the grievances.
He offered examples like “bullying and harassment, relationship with managers or colleagues, unrealistic workloads, working conditions, disputes over pay, benefits or terms and conditions”.
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But he hit out at the response from administration leader, Cllr Raymond Bremner, for not providing reasons for the complaints, asking if it was not “disrespectful not to have attempted to answer the question fully?”
The exchange happened on Thursday during the routine Q&A at every full council meeting when members ask written questions in advance and get to ask a supplementary on the day.
Cllr Bremner, presumably relying on information from officials, produced a table detailing that there were 34 grievances in 2022-23; 43 in 2023-24; and 25 in 2024-25.
That is a total of 102 grievances of which 10 were upheld – proportionally then 10 per cent – and that mirrors the 5002 survey responses showing at least 500 staff claimed they were bullied back in 2023.
Most of them – more than 40 per cent – were in education which has a reputation as a hotbed of allegations of bullying and harassment as well as other issues like staff disputes.
What Cllr Christie took issue with is that that Cllr Bremner did not produce the reasons behind the grievances, which would have shed light on the issue.
With his verbal follow-up he said: “Thank you for the attempt at answering it. A key part of the question was for the nature of the grievances to be analysed according to headings – do you not consider it disrespectful not to have attempted to answer the question fully?”
Cllr Bremner replied: “I will reflect on the comment and if I think there is anything more to add then I will come back to Cllr Christie and copy-in everybody else”.