MSPs’ salaries are to rise by 3.4% from April next year, the Scottish Parliament has announced.
It will see the rate of pay for an MSP increase from £64,470 to £66,662.
Salary increases are linked to public sector pay and MSPs do not vote on their own pay.
Since 2008/2009, Scottish Government ministers have voluntarily implemented a freeze on any increases to their pay.
Ministers, as well as the parliament’s presiding officers, are entitled to additional money on top of their MSP salary.
Last year, the pay of MSPs was due to rise by 5.1%, however the Scottish Parliament’s Corporate Body (SPCB) instead applied a pay freeze of 0%.
The then-presiding officer at Holyrood, Ken McIntosh, wrote to MSPs stating that the SPCB had unanimously agreed that it would be “wholly inappropriate” for the rise to go ahead amidst the economic hardship caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
In December 2013, the SPCB agreed to break the link with MPs salaries, so that MSPs pay would instead automatically rise in line with the ASHE index for public sector salaries in Scotland.
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