27 MARCH 2015

The Independent Financial Review Panel (‘the Panel’) has today launched a consultation on the salaries paid to Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly and the allowances paid to Assembly Office Holders.

The Panel’s first Determination was published in March 2012 and was subsequently revised in December 2012 to clarify the definition of “connected persons”. The revised Determination set out the level of salaries and allowances of Assembly Members for the remainder of the current Assembly mandate.  The Panel is now considering the detail for their next Determination which will cover the succeeding parliamentary mandate from May 2016.

Speaking today, Mr Pat McCartan, the Chairperson for IFRP highlighted: “I am keen to hear views from the people of Northern Ireland, Members and other interested parties on the matters raised within the consultation document. We [the Panel] remain committed to ensuring that the rules and finances governing Members’ salaries and allowances remain fair, workable, transparent and represent value for money”.

The consultation is open until 5pm on Friday 29th May 2015 and the full consultation document is available on the IFRP website. Please ensure that you paste the following link into your web browser http://nia1.me/salaries

ENDS

Notes to Editor:

• The Panel was established was established by the Northern Ireland Assembly Members (Independent Financial Review and Standards) Act 2011 in July 2011 to independently set the pay and allowances of Members of, and Office Holders in, the Northern Ireland Assembly.  Their full remit includes a range of responsibilities relating to:
• MLAs’ Salaries;
• Additional Allowances paid to Office Holders within the Assembly and Executive (eg Ministers, Committee Chairs, the Speaker, etc);
• Pensions;
• Office Costs Allowance paid to MLAs to support their work in constituencies; and
• Travel expenses.
• Determinations made by the Panel are not subject to approval by the Assembly or the Assembly Commission;
• The Panel are currently in the process of analysing the findings of their first three consultation exercises which relate to the Assembly Members’ Pension Scheme, Assembly Members’ Constituency Office Costs and the employment of Assembly Members’ staff;
• The Panel also initiated a short 4 week consultation exercise on ‘Prior Disclosure’ which closed on 27 March 2015.
• The Panel Chair and members are as follows:

  Chair
  Patrick McCartan, CBE, MSc (Dist), FCIPD.

  Members
  Dr Henrietta Campbell CB, MD, FRCP
  Alan McQuillan OBE BSc (Hons) MBA

For more information on the Independent Review Panel, publications and detail of its work visit www.ifrp.org.uk

For more information and media enquiries please contact:

The Independent Financial Review Panel
Room 241
Parliament Buildings
Ballymiscaw
Stormont
Belfast
BT4 3XX

Tel: 028 9052 1930 or 028 9052 5938
Email: info@ifrp.org.uk