This briefing sets out the current (2023/24) rates of Members' pay and ministerial salaries. It provides background to recent changes. It also notes changes in the rules relating to and budget limits for Members' expenses since 2010.
Members' pay and expenses 2023/24 (1,014 KB , PDF)
The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) is responsible for determining and paying Members’ salaries; for preparing and regularly reviewing and revising a scheme under which allowances are paid; and for paying those allowances.
It has no role in determining or paying ministerial salaries.
Most of the figures in this paper refer to the financial year 2023/24 unless otherwise stated.
From 1 April 2023, the annual salary of a Member of Parliament increased to £86,584, in accordance with IPSA’s 2015 and 2021 decisions on the annual uprating of MPs’ salaries.
In July 2015, IPSA had determined that MPs’ salaries should rise in line with public sector pay.
Under section 4A of the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009, IPSA is required to undertake a statutory review of Members’ pay in the first year after a general election.
Following the December 2019 general election, IPSA launched the statutory consultation, the Periodic Adjustment to MPs’ Pay, on 8 October 2020. It proposed retaining the link between public sector earnings and Members’ pay. The consultation closed on 6 November 2020.
However, in December 2020, following the consultation, IPSA announced that MPs’ pay would be frozen in April 2021.
In July 2021, IPSA launched a further consultation about the mechanism that IPSA should use to update MPs’ pay. It proposed that for the next three years it should have “some bounded discretion” to depart from the public sector pay figure. In September 2021, its report Consultation report: mechanism for updating MPs’ salaries (PDF) confirmed this approach and included a further revised determination.
On 14 March 2024, IPSA announced that from 1 April 2024, MPs’ salaries will increase by 5.5% to £91,346 (PDF).
Since the 2010 General Election, responsibility for devising a scheme for and paying Members’ expenses has rested with IPSA.
IPSA undertook a comprehensive review of the Scheme, which began with a consultation issued in May 2016.
The review identified a number of changes that would be implemented following a general election, which at the time was scheduled for May 2020. The early General Election in June 2017 meant that some changes were implemented in the course of the 2017/18 financial year.
Following IPSA’s statutory review (PDF) of MPs’ pay at the beginning of the 2017 Parliament, it made alterations (PDF) to the arrangements for MPs who lost their seats at a general election. It introduced a new Winding-Up Payment for MPs – this was set at two months’ net salary for MPs defeated at any general election and for MPs standing down at an early general election.
The 15th Edition of IPSA’s Scheme of MPs’ Staffing and Business Costs came into force on 1 April 2023. A revised edition of the Scheme (PDF) (the 16th Edition) was published in July 2023. IPSA made changes to the support that MPs who leave Parliament at a general election after 19 July 2023 would receive. Notably, the Winding-Up Payment for MPs who left at a general election, either because they were defeated or because they stood down, would be doubled to the equivalent of four months’ net salary. MPs who left at or after a general election after this date would have four months (instead of two) to wind-up their offices, and would be financially supported for the four-month period.
The main expense budgets provided in IPSA’s scheme; and the maximum amounts that Members can claim in 2023/24 are set out below:
| (£ per annum) | Budget |
|
Accommodation costs |
26,840 19,090 6,330 |
| Caring responsibility (per dependant) | 6,120 |
| London Area Living Payment London Area Living Payment (addition) |
4,435 1,575 |
| Staffing costs London area MPs Non-London area MPs |
252,870 236,170 |
| Office costs London area MPs Non-London area MPs Start-Up supplement |
33,840 30,570 6,000 |
| Winding-Up costs (before a general election) London area MPs Non-London area MPs |
Existing budgets pro-rated for the two-month winding up period |
| Winding-Up costs (at & after general election) London area MPs Non-London area MPs |
Existing budgets pro-rated for the four-month winding up period |
| Winding-Up payment | Four months’ salary* |
* net of tax and National Insurance contributions. The Winding-Up payment covers the period when MPs are winding up their financial affairs and closing their offices.
This briefing is one of a series of Library briefings that has reported on Members’ pay and expenses and, in the past, on ministerial salaries. A full listing of these briefings since 2001 is provided on the Commons Library website:
Members' pay and expenses 2023/24 (1,014 KB , PDF)
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