Hospital and care staff are to be given a one-off payment of £500 to thank them for their “extraordinary service” in 2020.
In her speech to the SNP conference, party leader Nicola Sturgeon said those at the “sharpest end of Covid trauma” deserved recognition now.
The first minister urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to use the UK government’s powers to ensure the payments were tax-free.
A spokesperson from HM Treasury responded by saying: “The income tax on these payments is paid to Scotland, not Westminster – and the Scottish government has the powers and funding to gross up the payment if it wishes.”
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