The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority was described as “tin-eared” today after it recommended that a £3,300 pay rise for MPs should go ahead, despite pleas from nurses being shunned just months prior.
The Commons watchdog proposed that MPs’ wages should continue to be linked to the average rise for public sector staff as it launched a consultation on salaries.
It is expected to base next year’s pay rise on October’s public sector three-month annual growth figure of 4.1 per cent.
This would mean MPs, including those working at home, would get an extra £3,360 on top of their £81,932 salary.
It comes just months after NHS workers descended on Downing Street in a protest to demand an immediate pay rise.
Health workers are in the final year of a three-year deal and are due a pay rise next April, but unions want the Government to show its appreciation for NHS staff by bringing it forward to this year.
The Government did not commit to an early pay rise for all NHS staff when wage increases for 900,000 public sector workers were announced.
That’s despite a survey by Unison showing that more than two-thirds (69 per cent) of people think all NHS employees should be awarded a rise during 2020.
TLE research found Members of Parliament have been handed eight pay rises in the last ten years – while nurses have seen their average salary slashed by more than 7 per cent across the decade.
Since IPSA took control of MPs’ pay in 2010, salaries have been linked to average changes in public sector pay.
In 2010, an MP’s annual salary was £65,738. It stayed at the same level until 2013 – when it rose to £66,396. It has climbed steadily since then and, in April this year, was hiked by an inflation-busting 3.1 per cent – meaning MPs now earn £81,932 per year.
The likes of Yvette Cooper or Jeremy Hunt – who chair select committees – earn an additional £16,422 each year on top of their standard salary.
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