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Stormont MLAs are set to receive a 27% pay rise of £14,000, bringing their salaries from £52,000 to £67,200, following a recommendation from an Independent Remuneration Board established by Stormont. The increase will apply to all 90 MLAs, with Minister pay also set to rise, and the First and Deputy First Minister's total pay increasing to £140,000.
The recommendation comes as Health Minister Mike Nesbitt said earlier this month that due to budgetary concerns he could not confirm whether healthcare staff would receive a 3.3% pay increase in line with NHS counterparts in England and Wales.
In 2025, all Executive parties and the SDLP voted down an amendment to the Remuneration Board Bill that would have capped potential pay increases at the rate of CPI.
People Before Profit Newry and Armagh representative Marc Mac Seáin has spoken out strongly against the proposed increase. "It's a slap in the face to working people across the north of Ireland that as their own pay remains stagnant, Stormont parties are set to enjoy a massive wage increase. And this during a widely acknowledged cost of living crisis. We support the petition and responses to consultation opposing this MLA pay increase and call on all parties to do the same."
Mac Seáin pointed to levels of deprivation in the Newry and Armagh area as context for his opposition. "Newry and Armagh for instance has a 30% poverty rate for children. We have massive levels of deprivation and intentionally broken public services as Britain announces its biggest ever budget surplus."
He also questioned the makeup of the board that made the recommendation. "From the start we scrutinised and opposed attempts to set up this 'independent' board as we could predict what it would recommend. Our proposal that it be made up of trade unionists was voted down, and instead it was considered former MLAs with a conflict of interest could sit on the board. These increases are justified as being in line with other devolved assemblies yet the same criticisms can be levelled at each body."
Mac Seáin added: "This is yet another sign of how dysfunctional Stormont is, and how we need to do away with it."
A petition opposing the pay rise is available at bit.ly/mlapayrise.
