MSPs set for increase in expenses

Published on 23/03/2013 12:00

MSPS are to get an increase in their expenses despite the pay cap still in place on public 
sector workers.

Scottish Parliament bosses have decided to end a two-year freeze on expenses and allow MSPs to claim up to 3.7 per cent more from next month.

A two-year pay freeze for MSPs is also nearing an end, but their salaries will only rise if MPs at Westminster get an increase,

Holyrood politicians were today accused of double standards for agreeing to an expenses rise. On Wednesday, thousands of members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union staged a 24-hour stoppage at the start of a rolling programme of industrial action in protest at their treatment over pay, pensions and job cuts.

A PCS spokeswoman said: “Everyone else in the public sector is having pay restraint and it makes it a bit hard to swallow when it doesn’t seem to apply to them.”

A Scottish Parliament spokesman said: “Following a two-year freeze, next year’s staff costs and office costs will revert to increasing in line with well-established inflation 
indices.”