'Shocking': 100 assaults a day taking place in Scotland's schools and nurseries
Around 100 assaults a day are taking place in Scotland’s schools and colleges - half of all attacks on public sector staff
More than 75,000 assaults on public service workers were reported last year – an increase of 15 per cent on the previous 12 months.
Figures released under freedom of information laws show there were 75,411 physical or verbal assaults, which works out at an average of 206 incidents each day.
Unison Scotland, which obtained the statistics, found around half of these - 37,000 - happened in schools, colleges and nurseries.
A spokesman said the figures were the highest that have been recorded since the union began collating them, and demonstrate that violence at work is a “massive issue”.
Unison Scotland health and safety committee chairman Scott Donohoe said: “These figures are troubling. Violence at work remains a massive issue in public services across Scotland.
“No one should face verbal abuse or physical assault simply for doing their job.”
Mr Donohoe said staff were increasingly bearing the brunt of frustration from the public, who he claimed were short tempered from delays, shortages and services cuts.
He said: “For local councils, there’s a clear link between service cuts and rising violence. In the NHS, the workforce crisis is also a key factor.
“Employers and the Scottish Government must take urgent action to protect staff. That means fully recording every incident, following up appropriately and providing real support to workers affected.”
The union collected data from local authorities, health boards, social landlords and other bodies delivering public services from the past 12 months to compile its figures.
Unison found a total of 75,411 incidents were reported in the year to March - a 15 per cent rise from the previous year - with more than 9,500 additional incidents. Around half of the incidents occurred in education settings and 63 per cent involved local authority staff.
Health boards accounted for 24 per cent of all incidents or 18,579 in total, up from 16,793 in 2024.
Scottish Labour education spokeswoman Pam Duncan-Glancy said: “Teachers and support staff have been sounding the alarm for years that violence in our schools is getting out of control, but SNP ministers still aren’t taking this issue seriously.
“It is truly shocking that more than 37,000 violent incidents are recorded in educational establishments each year and clearly more must be done to tackle this.”
The MSP said schools must be safe places for young people to learn “as well as being a safe workplace for teachers and support staff, but they are being failed by the SNP Government”.
A spokeswoman for council umbrella body Cosla said local authorities take the health and safety of their workforce “very seriously”.
She said: “In schools, we also want to make sure that they are welcoming and nurturing - not only for children and young people, but for our workforce as well.
“If any employee feels unsafe, they should raise this with their line manager in the first instance and follow local authority protocols in terms of alerting senior officers.”
The spokeswoman said Cosla would “closely consider” the Unison report and “welcome the opportunity” to discuss it further.
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