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Consultation launched on the future of Parliamentary Pensions

DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS News Release (2009/180) issued by COI News Distribution Service on 8 June 2009

A consultation on the future of the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund is being launched today by the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB).

Bill Cockburn, Chairman of the SSRB, said:
"The Government have asked us to look at the issue of parliamentary pensions and report back to them with recommendations for arrangements which are sustainable, appropriate and fair to both the tax-payer and to MPs. We come to this consultation with a completely open mind. This is an opportunity for an informed, evidence-based discussion of all the options."

The SSRB is an independent body which advises the Government on the remuneration of senior positions in the public sector, including parliamentarians, the judiciary, senior military officers, senior civil servants and some senior NHS managers. In February this year, the Prime Minister wrote to Bill Cockburn asking the SSRB to conduct a fundamental review of the pension provision for MPs, ministers and other parliamentary office holders such as Committee Chairmen.

In 2008 the House of Commons agreed to a recommendation by the SSRB that parliamentary pensions should be reviewed if the costs to the Exchequer appeared likely to rise above 20% of members' payroll. The most recent valuation of the Parliamentary Contributory Pension, released in March this year, estimated that as at April 2008 the underlying cost to the Exchequer of benefits accruing under the Fund had reached 23.1%.

The consultation is open until 31 July 2009. The SSRB intends to report to the Prime Minister by the end of the year.

Notes for Editors
1. The SSRB's consultation document is available on the website of the Office of Manpower Economics (http://www.ome.uk.com/review.cfm?body=4), which supports the day-to-day running of the SSRB.

2. Information on the membership and terms of reference of the SSRB are available at http://www.ome.uk.com/review.cfm?body=4

3. A copy of the Written Ministerial Statement on Parliamentary Pensions, made by the Leader of the Commons, the Rt Hon Harriet Harman MP, on 31 March 2009, is available at: http://www.commonsleader.gov.uk/output/page2775.asp

Contact: Dawn Camus, Press Officer, 0207 215 8391