Assembly members set to get £1,000 pay rise

Assembly members can expect to see the extra money in their first pay packet since Stormont returned

Northern Ireland Assembly members are set to get a £1,000 pay increase in their annual salary, the BBC has learned.

The hike will see their pay increase from £49,500 to £50,500.

They were due to receive the extra money over the past three years, but the increase was blocked by the former NI Secretary of State Karen Bradley.

She was asked to withhold the money by the Assembly Commission because Stormont was in suspension.

In a letter at that time, the then Speaker Robin Newton said such an increase would not have been "appropriate in the circumstances".

But assembly members can now expect to see more money in their first pay packet following the return of devolution to Stormont.

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Confirming the move, an assembly spokesperson said: "Following the formation of an executive on January 11th, the full provisions of the Assembly Members Salaries and Expenses Determination 2016 are in effect including the provisions for annual uprating."

They added that the annual uprating provided in the legislation has been applied, bringing the "salary payable as a member to £50,500".

The current rules on MLA salaries and expenses were set by the Independent Financial Review Panel following a report it produced in March 2016.

Later that year, its members did not have their posts renewed and so the panel is not functioning at present.

West Belfast MLA Gerry Carroll has criticised the pay increase

In a tweet on Tuesday night, Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill of Sinn Féin, said the pay rise was "unjustifiable".

"MLAs pay is set by an independent body, not by MLAs," she said.

"MLAs had no input into this decision, nor did they seek it.

"Given that the assembly has just been restored this is unjustifiable and should not be paid."

A DUP spokesperson said: "It is right that MLAs do not take decisions on their pay and office cost allowances. We support the independence of this process."

SDLP MLAs Pat Catney and Daniel McCrossan said they wanted to offer their £1,000 increase to a mental health charity.

The Alliance Party said in a statement: "We are not happy with the timing or content of this increase but it is not within our gift to refuse it unless sole control of salaries and office cost allowances is returned to MLAs, and that would be a retrograde step in terms of public confidence."

The move has also been criticised by People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll who said it would "come as a slap in the face to nurses who stood on freezing pickets for months for pay parity, and the civil service staff who are still taking industrial action to get what they deserve".

"How can MLAs receive a salary that is around double the average wage and claim to competently represent their constituents interests when their financial realities are so different?"