Pay freeze for politicians as budget gap looms

Tuesday 26 August 2014

States Members’ pay should be frozen for the next three and a half years, says the independent political pay review body.

The group responsible for recommending levels of States Members’ pay – currently £46,600 per year - says that given the new black hole in States finances, it would not be appropriate to recommend a pay rise for politicians. But they say that a pension scheme should be set up from the start of 2016, and that they want to take a look at a better pay structure in a review next year.

The announcement was made this morning by Julian Rogers, the chairman of the States Members’ Remuneration Review Body.

He said: “The Review Body was keen to publish its recommendations for the next three and a half years in good time before the September nomination meetings so that anyone standing for election or re-election is fully aware of the remuneration available for the entire lifetime of the next Assembly.

“In reaching our conclusions we took careful note of a number of factors including the downgraded financial forecasts contained in the Draft Budget Statement 2015 which indicates that there will be a requirement for all States departments to find savings for 2015.

“Having taken everything into account we concluded that the current total remuneration figure of £46,600 remains appropriate for the next three and a half years although we will nevertheless continue to undertake annual reviews to check that this remains the case.”

When the Budget was published last month, it showed that States income tax receipts are predicted to be far lower than was thought seven months ago. It set out what will happen if those forecasts come true, with the Treasury needing to find £33m in 2014 and £39m in 2015, just to balance the books. The Budget listed the measures which would be taken to do that, including finding at least £20m of new savings next year.