MSP pay set to rise by 3.4 per cent next year

MSPs’ pay is set to increase by 3.4 per cent next year.

The move means the basic salary will rise from £64,470 to £66,662 in April 2022.

Last year, MSPs ’ pay was due to increase by 5.1 per cent, but the cross-party Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) instead applied a pay freeze due to the pandemic.

Ken Macintosh, who was Holyrood’s Presiding Officer at the time, said: "These are exceptional circumstances and no other decision would have been appropriate or welcome at this time – either inside or outwith Parliament.

The Scottish Parliament

"Now more than ever is a time for political leadership where our own salaries are concerned."

MSP salaries are linked to public sector pay, using the ASHE [Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings] index. They do not vote on their own pay.

In a letter to Holyrood’s finance and public administration committee, the SPCB said: “Following members’ pay freeze in the current financial year, the SPCB will apply the ASHE index (3.4 per cent) to MSP and ministerial salaries next year as laid out in the members’ salaries scheme.”

The proposed increase in the funding provision for MSPs’ staff is 4.5 per cent.

Scottish Government ministers have voluntarily followed a pay freeze since 2008/09.

Labour MSP Carol Mochan said she would be handing her pay boost to charity.

She wrote on Twitter: “It is completely inappropriate when carers are not even being given the £15 an hour they deserve, not to mention the number of people suffering due to Covid.”