School strikes in Scotland look set to go ahead as three unions will rejected a "best and final offer" from local councils.

Support staff from Unison, Unite and GMB will walk out from September 26 in an ongoing dispute over pay, which will mean closures across the country.

On Thursday the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) put what it described as a "best and final offer" to staff, on the condition that the unions take it to their members for full consideration and that strikes are suspended with immediate effect.

The unions had previously granted an extension to allow time for a new offer to be formulated, but it's understood they will advise members to reject the offer on the table.

Read More: Scotland's school strikes: Which local authorities are affected?

Unison, Unite and GMB Scotland rejected the previous “measly” pay offer from Cosla, saying it would lead to an increase of 38p per week for the lowest paid.

Strike action will affect 26 of Scotland's 32 local authorities, closing around 75% of schools.

COSLA had previously said that the new offer, for which an extra £90m had been found, was its "best and final" offer to the unions.

Its resources spokeswoman Katie Hagmann said: “This really is our best and final offer, we have nowhere to go after this.

"We have gone beyond our limits in a bid to satisfy our workforce and avert next week’s strikes.

"Despite the extreme difficulties this presents us with, Scotland’s council leaders have listened and acted on the ask of our trade union colleagues to get us to this position today.

“We can now make a significantly improved in-year offer meaning those workers on the Scottish local government living wage will see an in-year uplift of around £2,000, or almost 10%.

“I cannot stress enough the efforts that both local and Scottish Government have gone to in relation to securing the funding to meet this ask.

“Politicians and officers have worked tirelessly in partnership to review, re-prioritise, restructure and re-profile money, ensuring the impact on our communities is minimised.

“However, have no doubt, tough decisions have been taken and there will be delays to programmes and projects within communities to meet these pay demands.

“No new money has been identified for this offer – it is the ultimate example of ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ in finance terms.

“Strikes are too damaging to our children and young people, their families and our communities across Scotland for us not to have taken this action.”

Unison said the strikes would go ahead as planned after the offer was rejected.

UNISON Scotland head of local government, Johanna Baxter said: “This revised offer is far too little, too late.  Strikes will therefore proceed next week. We cannot agree to a pay offer that will result in further cuts to our members jobs and the services they provide.

"It has taken COSLA 6 months to send us a revised pay offer which, for the vast majority of staff is an increase of only 0.5% in-year. These are not well-paid staff, they are on less than the Scottish average wage and it is simply not acceptable.

"Far from learning the lessons of last year’s dispute the situation has been worse this year, caused further delay local government workers’ pay during a cost-of-living crises and created uncertainty for parents.  This is no way to conduct industrial relations.” 

Chair of UNISON Scotland’s of local government committee, Mark Ferguson said: “The offer is still below the rate of inflation meaning that local government workers are, once again, being asked to take a real-terms pay cut which they can ill-afford during a cost of living crises.

"Our members have been left waiting for an improved pay offer for months after their pay uplift was due, and right up until the eve of mass school closures, whilst COSLA and the Scottish Government have prevaricated over who will find the additional money needed to fund any improved offer and where they money will come from.”