Benefits and wellbeing at work

The COPFS team works hard to secure justice for Scotland. We can only do this as we reward, develop, and nurture our people.

Rewarding success

We offer performance-related pay. Most positions have a starting salary and a pay scale you can progress through, as you gain experience and meet objectives.

Pay scales

The salaries below are reviewed annually. We have recently increased salaries for several grades to reflect the levels paid by the Scottish Government.

Main scale

	B	B+	C	D	E	F	G	H
Max -3	-	-	-	36,605	45,449	57,141	73,757	-
Max -2	25,235	29,013	32,140	37,900	47,408	61,111	76,321	85,400
Max -1	26,858	29,957	33,223	39,652	49,445	64,229	79,635	86,364
Max	28,131	31,177	34,861	41,834	54,419	71,243	85,130	86,556

Legal Traineeships

Trainee Year 1	32,140
Trainee Year 2	35,837

Flexible working

We offer family-friendly hours where possible. Some roles are also suitable for location-neutral working. Hybrid working between office and remote working may be considered (dependant on whether you will be public facing or not). By adapting working conditions to individual employees, we help them to balance the demands of both job and home life.

Time out

Our new joiners receive 25 days annual leave per year. This rises to 30 days after four years of service.

In addition, COPFS normally observes 11.5 days public and privilege holiday per annum (pro-rata for part time employees).. We also offer flexible working hours.

Developing talent

We are committed to developing our people through the delivery of high-quality education and learning. Our approach focusses on our service needs, offering development through role appropriate learning that supports individual career development.

Our approach is to develop learning solutions that support our service needs and allows our people to learn through work experiences, peer and formal structured learning, using a range of online, e-learning and in person events. We also have formal programmes including Legal Traineeships and Modern Apprenticeships.

We positively promote a lifelong learning culture, utilising both internal and external learning opportunities to support our people to grow and develop as individuals.

Fairness and inclusion at work

We are proud to uphold the highest standards of integrity in recruitment, promotion, and workplace conduct. All our employees complete training on valuing diversity and inclusion and we have robust policies in place to deal with bullying a harassment.

We are committed to attracting and retaining people from all backgrounds so that our workforce reflects the diversity of the people of Scotland.

The COPFS values are ‘being professional’ and ‘showing respect’ and we embody these in all we do, particularly our performance management and appraisal process.

Our employees also sign up to the Civil Service Code which outlines the core values and standards of behaviour required across COPFS and wider Civil Service.

Health and wellbeing

COPFS provides a range of employee welfare services to improve the health and wellbeing of our employees.

Eye care

COPFS offer reimbursement for various eye care costs depending on working requirements

Private medical services

Civil Service Health Care and Beneden Health are available with options for private medical services for you to consider.

Cycle to Work scheme & gym memberships

The Cycle to Work Scheme offers a choice of more than 140 tax-free bicycles to view a selected range of bikes and accessories and is supported by HR and the Climate Change Working Group. Employee can also get access to discounted gym memberships through the Civil Service Sports Council.

Employee Assistance Programme

The Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) is a dedicated helpline which is free and confidential for you to use. You can contact the EAP about any challenges happening in your life. For example, you might contact them to discuss relationships, sickness, caring, debt, or legal issues.

Staff Equality Networks and Ambassadors

We also have eleven employee network groups as well as HR and Trade Unions who all offer a range of support to employees. Also, within these networks we have dedicated Equality ambassadors who are volunteers from across COPFS who represent all the protected characteristics from the Equality Act (2010).

These networks include:

Believe… in COPFS for religion and belief support
Bereavement Network for bereavement and grief support
Carers Network for carers support
Disability Action Network for disability support
Gender Equality Network for gender-based support
Inclusion in COPFS for race and ethnicity support
Lifelong Learning Network to support learning alongside jobs
Menopause Network for menopause support
Mental Health Network for mental health support
Neurodiversity Support Network for neurodiversity support
Proud in COPFS for LGBT+ support

Savings support and staff benefits portal

As a COPFS employee, you will have access to a range of organisations aimed at supporting you to save money. These include supermarkets, high street brands, insurance, finance, adventures and experiences:

Retirement and financial services

COPFS helps employees spread travel costs and plan for the future. Pensions, season ticket loans, and pre-retirement courses are all part of the support package available.

What people say about us

Disability Confident Employer

COPFS has reached Disability Confident Employer (level 2) with the Department for Work & Pensions. We commit to a working environment that safeguards dignity and opportunity for disabled team members.

Carer Positive Employer

We have been awarded an ‘Established Level’ accreditation from Carer Positive because of the ongoing support provided to recognise and support carers within our organisation.

Living Wage Scotland

We are accredited as an employer that pays all directly employed adult employees the real living wage or higher.

Civil Service Commissioners

Our recruitment posts are appointed on merit following public advertisement and a fair and open selection competition. This helps us to support a Civil Service that is effective, politically impartial, and that builds upon its core values to meet the challenges of today and of tomorrow.

ENEI TIDE

We were awarded the Gold enei's TIDE Award. TIDE is enei’s self-assessment evaluation and benchmarking tool. It measures an organisation’s approach and progress on diversity and inclusion.

Menopause Friendly Employer

We have a Menopause Friendly membership and committed to being a Menopause Friendly Employer.