Question

To ask the hon. Member for Warrington North, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, what the a) median salary, b) mean salary, c) turnover rate, d) mean length of service, e) median length of service and f) salary increase for 2026-27 is for i) IPSA employees and ii) Members' staff.

Salaries for MPs’ staff are decided by MPs, who employ and manage their staff, within pay bands that in 2026-27 will be uplifted by 5%.

The median annual salary, when calculated by actual pay and not full-time equivalent hours, for MPs’ staff (not including MPs or House of Commons staff) is £30,900. The mean annual salary, when calculated by actual pay and not full-time equivalent hours, for MPs’ staff is £30,658. It should be noted that MPs are also able to pay reward and recognition payments and overtime payments to their staff. So far in 2025-26, 500 offices have made such payments, at an average of £5,294 per office.

Due to the nature of the work that IPSA carries out, there are no roles that are directly comparable with those found within MPs' offices. For example, IPSA is required to have senior qualified finance and payroll professionals and managers who are responsible for teams significantly larger than those in MPs’ offices. Nearest comparable roles amongst IPSA's people include MP Services Managers and Account Managers, Payroll Support Officers and Managers, Communications Officers, and the Chief of Staff. For the purpose of illustration, the median annual salary across such roles is £38,782. The mean annual salary is £35,855.

The annual turnover rate averaged across all MPs’ offices is 20.8% and for nearest comparable IPSA roles is 10.8%. The mean length of service for current (as of 5 March 2026) MPs’ staff is 926 days and for nearest comparable IPSA roles is 1,307 days. The median length of service for current (as of 5 March 2026) MPs’ staff is 528 days and for nearest comparable IPSA roles is 1,739 days. The significantly longer service of IPSA staff is reflected in the median and mean salaries.

IPSA has provided for an automatic pay award in 2026-27 of 3.5% for both MPs’ staff and IPSA’s people in its 2026-27 main estimate, with additional increases within the 5% staffing budget uplift available at the employing MP’s discretion. MPs’ staff members who are paid at the minimum rate of their pay band will receive either a 5%, 7.1%, or 9.4% increase in pay automatically, depending on their role.