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Workers at the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) have accepted a new pay offer.

The deal will see the pay of hundreds of staff increase by between 5.9% and 8.9% depending on their salary.

Workers called off planned strike action earlier this month to consider the SQA's revised offer.

The Unite union described the accepted deal as a "significant improvement from the starting position in the negotiations".

The agreed 5.9% hike for SQA staff comes amid ongoing pay disputes with Scotland's teachers and health workers.

If the planned strikes had gone ahead, they would have been the first in the history of the SQA and up to 55,000 exam appeals could have been affected.

Alison MacLean, Unite industrial officer, said: "The deal only came about through the strike action our members took, and the threat that more days would follow.

"Our members should never have been put in this situation in the first place and the blame for this lies squarely with the Scottish government and SQA.

"We remain deeply concerned about education reform in Scotland and the implications for the workforce at the SQA because these issues remain unresolved."

The agreed pay deal means SQA workers earning up to £30,000 will now receive a fully consolidated £1,700 minimum salary uplift, which represents an increase of up to 8.9% depending on job grading.

All other salary grades above £30,000 will also receive a fully consolidated uplift up to 5.9%.

Unite said the original offer to SQA workers had been worth between 1.7% to 4% depending on job grading.

The Scottish government announced in June that the SQA was to be scrapped as part of a "substantial" overhaul of education.

The exams body is to be broken up and replaced, with pupils, parents and teachers to be consulted on changes.

Three new education bodies will be created - a qualifications body, a national agency for Scottish education, and an independent inspection body.

A spokesman for SQA said: "We welcome the result of our trade union ballots on the recent pay offer. It is a good outcome for learners and a fair deal for our hardworking staff."