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STATES OF JERSEY
STATES MEMBERS' REMUNERATION REVIEW BODY: IMPLEMENTATION OF PAY RECOMMENDATIONS
Lodged au Greffe on 19th May 2017
by the Privileges and Procedures Committee
STATES GREFFE
2017 P.39
PROPOSITION
THE STATES are asked to decide whether they are of opinion
- that the provision in Article 44 of the States of Jersey Law 2005, which prohibits States members from being paid at different levels, should be removed;
- that pay differentiation should apply only to the Chief Minister, from the election of the Chief Minister in 2018;
- that the Chief Minister should receive a supplement of 15% of salary from May 2018; and
- to refer to their Act dated 12th June 2012, in which they agreed the terms of reference of the States Members' Remuneration Review Body, and to agree that, in the event that Article 44 of the States of Jersey Law 2005 is removed, a new paragraph 10A be inserted into those terms of reference, worded as follows: "Any recommendation by the Review Body for a new scheme for differentiating the level of remuneration and expenses payable to elected members shall only be implemented if a proposition giving effect to such a recommendation has been adopted by the States".
PRIVILEGES AND PROCEDURES COMMITTEE
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P.39/2017
REPORT
In February, PPC presented the most recent report of the States Members' Remuneration Review Body to the Assembly. Its recommendation that States Members' remuneration should remain unchanged during the 2018–2022 period will now be implemented, because a proposition seeking a debate on the matter was not brought to the Assembly within one month, as provided for by the Assembly's rules.
However, the Review Body's recommendations on differential pay require changes to primary legislation. Those recommendations were as follows –
- the provision in Article 44 of the States of Jersey Law 2005, which prohibits States Members from being paid at different levels, should be removed;
- pay differentiation should apply only to the Chief Minister, from the election of the Chief Minister in 2018. In our view, a supplement of 15% of salary (in other words £7,000 (after rounding) at the present level of salary) would be appropriate.
PPC has agreed to put forward a proposition to enable these recommendations to be debated by the Assembly.
The Committee has not itself adopted a position for or against the recommendations. However, the Committee is concerned to put beyond doubt that, if Article 44 is removed, proposals for differentiation only come into effect if agreed to by the Assembly. In other words, if the Review Body were minded in future to recommend that all Ministers or all Scrutiny Chairmen should receive a different level of pay to other Members, such a recommendation could only be implemented with the Assembly's specific approval. If such approval were granted, the Review Body's recommendations about the level of remuneration could be implemented automatically, in the usual way.
If the Assembly votes in favour of the removal of Article 44 of the States of Jersey Law 2005, the Committee will bring forward the necessary amendments to that Law. In addition, if the Assembly votes for paragraphs (b) and (c) of the proposition (and agrees subsequently to amend the States of Jersey Law 2005), these changes will be brought into effect in May 2018. If adopted, paragraph (d) would come into effect on the removal of Article 44 of the States of Jersey Law 2005.
Financial and manpower implications
If this proposition is agreed, the States Greffe (which holds the budget for States Members' remuneration) will fund the additional payments to the Chief Minister, which will total around £7,500 per annum from 2018–2022.
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P.39/2017