MPs' staff salaries and the living wage

Request

How many MP’s are providing Staff with a living wage and is there a basic committal in the standard employment contract to do so ?


Response

In your email of 24 October 2012, you clarify your request as: “I would confirm that the request applies to the living wage across the uk which is defined as £8.30 for London and £7.20 for the rest of the UK.”

IPSA holds the information that you request.

I can confirm that all MPs provide one or more of their staff members with the living wage, as defined in your email of 24 October 2012.  However, out of those MPs there are 181 MPs that employ one of more staff members who are not paid the living wage.

Since IPSA’s operations began, it is a requirement that all new MPs’ staff should be employed on IPSA model contracts of employment and adhere to MPs’ staff salary ranges (which are separated for London area and non-London area, depending on where the staff member is employed).  There is no specific mention of the living wage in IPSA’s model contract of employment.  The model contracts of employment and MPs’ staff salary ranges can be found via this link to the payroll section of our website.

Ref:
FOI2012-A076
Disclosure:
25 October 2012
Categories:
MPs' STAFFING
Exemptions Applied:
None