Assembly Members (Remuneration Board) Bill - Call for Evidence

Overview

The Assembly Members (Remuneration Board) Bill (the Bill) was introduced to the Assembly on 3 February 2024.  The purpose of the Bill is to amend the Assembly Members (Independent Financial Review and Standards) Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 (the 2011 Act).  The 2011 Act of the Assembly established the Independent Financial Review Panel (IFRP) and conferred on it the power to make determinations in relation to MLA's salaries, pensions and allowances.

The Bill proposes the following provisions:

• The renaming of the IFRP as the Remuneration Board and provides for the removal of its power and responsibility for determining the allowances payable to Members.
• For temporary appointments to the Board and for the removal of the bar on former MLAs being members of it.
• Requirement for the Board to have regard to the salaries payable to members of certain other legislatures when making determinations about MLA salaries.
• For the timing of determinations, their publication in draft, and consultation on draft determinations and other matters. 

Under the proposed legislation, responsibility for making determinations in relation to Members’ salaries and pensions would remain with the Remuneration Board.

Why is the Assembly Members (Remuneration Board) Bill being introduced?

The Bill was introduced by the Assembly Commission which is the corporate body of the Assembly, established under the Northern Ireland Act 1998.  Section 40(4) of this Act requires the Commission to provide the Assembly, or ensure that the Assembly is provided, with the property, staff and services required for the Assembly’s purposes. 

Section 47 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 provides that the function of determining the salaries or allowances to be paid can be delegated to a body established by Act of the Assembly or conferred on the Commission by a resolution of the Assembly.  The IFRP was established in the 2011 Act.  The IFRP Determination in respect on Members’ salaries, pensions and allowances was published in March 2016 (the 2016 Determination).

The Commission became aware of a number of difficulties that had arisen as a result of the provision made by the IFRP in respect of allowances to Members.  An initial consultation of Commission Members was followed by more comprehensive consultations to establish Parties’ views on the issues, and a plenary debate was held in the Assembly on 30 June 2020 on the Conferral of Functions on the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission.   The debate outlined the difficulties faced by Members and their parties in relation to the allowances payable to Members.  A key difficulty highlighted in the debate was that the 2016 Determination did not, in the view of the Commission, provide Members’ employees with fair and reasonable terms and conditions of employment in that:

• It significantly reduced sick and maternity pay for employees.
• It reduced annual leave for those employees to the minimum statutory level.
• The terms had to be adopted by Members if staff salaries were to be recovered and were considerably less than the terms offered by most public and private-sector employers.
• It introduced a prohibition on letting constituents know a Member’s telephone number and email address from office signage.
• It introduced a formula for assessing rates for office accommodation which was considered unfair and which led to some Members having to contribute personally to pay to rates bills.
• It introduced a bar on Members renting space to operate a surgery elsewhere in a constituency other than in the constituency office.

What has changed since the 2016 Determination?

Following the debate, the Assembly conferred on the Commission the function of determining the allowances payable to Members.  In exercise of this power, the Commission made the Assembly Members (Salaries and Expenses) (Amendment) Determination (Northern Ireland) 2020 (the 2020 Determination), which amended the 2016 Determination.  The 2020 Determination:

• Removed the prohibition on Members claiming expenses in respect of more than one constituency office (paragraph 6).
• Removed some restrictions on Members recovering rates expenses for constituency offices (paragraph 8).
• Removed the prohibition on Members recovering expenses without having provided the Commission with full contact details and opening hours of the constituency office (paragraph 9).
• Removed certain restrictions and added certain requirements for signage for Members’ constituency offices (paragraphs 10 and 11).
• Increased the maximum expenses recoverable for constituency office operating costs from £4,900 to £7,000 (paragraph 13a).
• Broadened the range of recoverable constituency office operating expenses (paragraph 13b).
• Added provision for expenses for maintaining a constituency office and increased the maximum recoverable expenses for constituency office refurbishment and maintenance from £2,000 to £4,000 per mandate (paragraph 14).
• Removed the £600 limit in respect of expenses recoverable in relation to mobile phones paragraph 15).
• Makes provision for recovery of expenses relating to replacement staff costs (paragraph 18).
• Made provision for the employment of temporary staff and removed the condition to not require employees to work more than 74 hours per week (paragraph 19).
• Increased the staff costs cap and introduced a provision for percentage increases in staff salaries to be aligned with those of the Assembly Commission (paragraph 23).
• Made provision for improved terms and conditions for parental leave sickness for Members’ staff paragraph 24).
• Reduced the number of increments on staff pay scales to two for each grade and increased pay scale maximums as follows (paragraph 25):
  • Grade 1 from £19,500 to £24, 960 (28%)
  • Grade 2 from £22,500 to £30, 420 (35%)
  • Grade 3 from £27,500 to £37,180 (35%)
• Made changes to the amount of costs recoverable for other capped staff costs including training and travel (paragraph 27).
• Increased provision for employer pension contributions from 5% to 10% of an employee’s salary (paragraph 28).

Support staff salaries were subsequently increased by the Commission in 2022 to reflect the percentage increase in Assembly Commission staff salaries as set out at paragraph 23 of the 2020 Determination.