Decision on Pay for Chairs of Committees Confirmed by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority

Date published: 25 May 2016

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) confirmed today the outcome of its review of the additional salaries paid to Chairs of Select Committees and to Members of the Panel of Chairs.

The Additional Salary for Chairs of Select Committees will remain at its current level of £15,025 a year.

For Members of the Panel of Chairs, the Additional Salary will also be set at £15,025 from June 2016.

And, in future years, salaries will be adjusted by the rate of annual change in average earnings in the public sector, as with MPs’ basic pay. The first adjustment by the rate of annual change in public sector average earnings will take place on 1 April 2017.

Today’s announcement follows a public consultation which was published in March 2016.

IPSA’s Chair, Sir Ian Kennedy, said today:

“Parliament gave IPSA the power to set and administer pay for MPs. In addition to the basic salaries for MPs, we also have responsibility for setting the additional salaries paid to Chairs of Select Committees and Members of the Panel of Chairs. These salaries were introduced by Parliament before IPSA’s creation in recognition of the important role Chairs play in Parliament.

“We have given careful consideration to the responses we received to our public consultation. Our decision reflects our conclusion that MPs who act as Chairs of all Committees should be remunerated at the same rate for the work that they do in Parliament. We also consider it right that any changes to these salaries in future should be linked to changes in public sector earnings. This is a fair arrangement, both for MPs and for the taxpayer.”

Notes to editors:

  1. In our July 2013 consultation report, “MPs’ Pay and Pensions: A New Package”, we proposed to carry out a full review of the pay arrangements for Chairs of Committees in the first year of the new Parliament.

  2. Our consultation, “Reviewing Pay for Chairs of Committees – A Consultation”, ran from 11 March until 18 April 2016, and can be found on our website.

  3. For more information, please contact IPSA's Press Office.