Names of MPs accepting pay rise

Under the terms of the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009, as amended by the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, IPSA is required to pay MPs’ salaries. As such, MPs have no mechanism by which they can refuse to receive the recent salary increase and all MPs have been paid the full salary.

Once the full salary has been paid, MPs may choose to donate an amount to charity. This is a personal matter for the MP. There are, of course, many different ways of donating to charity, and we would not necessarily know if an MP was making donations to charity once they have received their salary.

By way of reference, IPSA can make arrangements for payroll giving through the Charities Aid Foundation’s Give-As-You-Earn programme. Should an MP be interested, they need to complete the Foundation’s ‘Donor Instruction Form’ form on our website www.parliamentarystandards.org.uk. This needs to be signed then posted or emailed to IPSA’s address. Any donations made under this programme will be taken from an MP’s pay before tax but after National Insurance. According to our records, 18 MPs currently utilise this method, although this obviously does not reflect the total number of MPs who may choose to donate to charity via other means.

Amounts donated via this method are paid by IPSA to the Charities Aid Foundation who are responsible for allocating the amounts to individual charities. As such, IPSA does not hold this information.

The changes to MPs’ pay were implemented as part of a package of reforms to MPs’ pay, pensions and the system of business costs and expenses. The total cost of the reforms did not impose any additional burden on the taxpayer (in other words, it was cost-neutral). You can read the full details of the changes made to MPs’ pay, pensions, business costs and expenses on our website at the following address: http://parliamentarystandards.org.uk/payandpensions.

Please find below figures on the changes to MPs’ basic salaries, as requested. The total cost figures are approximate, based on the assumption that all 650 MPs are paid the basic salary.

In future years, MPs’ pay will change each April, for the remainder of this Parliament, on the basis of Office for National Statistics data on average weekly public sector earnings from the previous October. If these data show that public sector earnings have in fact fallen, then MPs’ pay will be cut too. We are obliged by statute to review MPs’ pay at the beginning of each Parliament and we will review the indexation mechanism at that time.

[1] This figure does not include any additional salary payments an MP may receive by virtue of any additional posts held, such as committee chairs or Ministers.