MPs handed inflation-busting pay rise to almost £82,000 a year
2 min read
MPs have been handed an inflation-busting pay rise which will see their annual salary soar to almost £82,000.
The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) announced their wages would go up from £79,468 to £81,932 - an increase of 3.1%.
The pay rise will be given automatically following the expenses body's recommendation and MPs will not get to vote on the change.
Since 2015, MP salary increases have been linked to the average change in public sector earnings, meaning the real-terms increase eclipses the current Consumer Prices Index inflation rate of 1.8%.
IPSA has also increased MPs' staffing budget by £19.7m following a campaign to secure their employees a pay rise.
It means each of the 650 MPs will recieve a budget increase of 13.1% (£21,900) for staff in London, and 13.9% (21,600) for staff based in the rest of the country.
Richard Lloyd, IPSA interim chairman, said: "Our review of MPs' staffing budgets in 2019 found demands on MPs' offices were high, with staff doing difficult and stressful casework with constituents on a very wide range of problems.
"There was often high staff turnover, with salary levels below comparable roles elsewhere, based on independent benchmarked evidence. In many MPs' offices, relatively little time or money was spent on staff training, well-being and development."
He added: "As a result, we have provided additional funding in MPs' 2020-21 staffing budgets for staff training and welfare, security, and changes to the salary bands and job descriptions for MPs' staff to bring them into line with the jobs they actually do.
"This action demonstrates IPSA's ongoing commitment to supporting MPs and their staff to serve their constituents, and we will review this over the next year, in line with our assurance work."
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