Civil service unions have told the Scottish government not to exploit the loyalty of staff for short-term financial gain in its budget planning for 2012-13.

At a meeting with the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, John Swinney, on September 14, they warned that the quality of public services would suffer if the pay and jobs of public servants continued to be cut while their workload expanded.

Efficiencies and voluntary redundancies have taken place for several years across the Scottish government, non-departmental public bodies and agencies, said the five unions.

Given the government's intention to introduce 21 new bills in the current parliament, prioritisation of work is essential, they stressed.

"In other words, with fewer people, some work will have to stop," said Prospect national secretary Anne Douglas. "It is simply not sustainable to continue delivery of current workloads with significantly fewer resources."

In reply, the Cabinet Secretary accepted that it was critical to maintain the quality and level of public services but stressed the budgetary pressures on the cost of government.

At the meeting Prospect was supported by the FDA, PCS, Unite and Nautilus. They questioned how the government intended to reconcile its aim of bringing in a minimum social wage for public servants with a two-year pay freeze, expected in this week's budget statement.

The additional threat by the UK government to raise pension contributions for public servants could be offset by avoiding a pay freeze in 2012-13, unions said.

Efficiency savings could also be made if pay systems in Scotland were reformed to provide greater coherence across the public sector.

On jobs, unions asked ministers to extend the current no compulsory redundancy agreement beyond 2012 and to clarify its application in some problem areas.

Both the National Museums of Scotland and the Scottish Agricultural College claim they are not covered by the agreement. The Cabinet Secretary agreed to respond.