MPs’ pay will rise from £67,060 to £74,000, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) has announced.
The increase was approved despite a number of MPs arguing that it was “not appropriate” during a period of national austerity and general public antipathy to the issue.
Some MPs have said they would give the money to charity, and Labour leadership contenders Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper, and Liz Kendall have said they would forego the rise.
The pay rise will be backdated to 8 May 2015, meaning that MPs will see a £1700 “bonus” in July’s pay packet, and in the future will be adjusted annually in line with the average earnings within the public sector.
Alongside the rise, the package of changes also includes change to a career-average pension from a more generous final-salary pension, an end to generous resettlement payments, and further cuts to MPs’ expenses. MPs can no longer claim for the costs of hospitality, evening meals, taxis home from Westminster when working late (unless the House sits after 23:00), and home contents insurance.
IPSA’s Chair, Sir Ian Kennedy, commented:
“Parliament gave IPSA the power to deal with the vexed issue of MPs’ pay – independent of Parliament and Government. Pay has been an issue which has been ducked for decades, with independent reports and recommendations from experts ignored, and MPs’ salaries supplemented by an opaque and discredited system of allowances.
“We have made the necessary break with the past. We have created a new and transparent scheme of business costs and expenses, introduced a less generous pension scheme, where taxpayers contribute less and MPs make a higher contribution, and scrapped large resettlement payments. We have consulted extensively on MPs’ pay, and with today’s decision we have put in place the final element of the package for the new Parliament.”
