MSPs handed £4500 pay rise following review of Holyrood salaries

dailyrecord.co.uk:

MSPs will be handed a 6.7 per cent pay rise from next April following a review of Holyrood salaries.The move was announced today by the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body and will see politicians earn a basic salary of £72,195.Government ministers earn an additional wage on top of their base rate - but no decision has yet been made on whether this will also increase.The rise for MSPs will take effect on April 1 and follows an increase of 1.5 per cent last year and 3.4 per cent the year before.The review was based on increases to average weekly earnings (AWE), after previously increasing based on the Office for National Statistics (ONS) annual survey of hours and earnings (ASHE).A spokesperson for the Scottish Parliament said: “The Scottish Parliament severed the link to MPs’ pay back in 2016 so that MSPs’ pay rises reflected public sector increases across Scotland, based on the ASHE index.“In recent years, ASHE has been increasingly out of sync with other wage inflation indices to the point that MSPs received 1.5% last year when general inflation was running at 10%.“Prior to that, MSPs received 3.4% in 2022-23 and 0% in 2021-22.“This year, AWE will be applied to MSPs’ pay, meaning a rise of 6.7% and a salary rate of £72,195 from April 1, 2024.”In recent years ministers have declined pay rises, but it is not clear if that is due to continue.To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here.