MEP publishes 2008 expenses
31 January 2009
Jim Allister is the only one of Northern Ireland’s MEPs to publish a full list of the allowances and expenses which he receives as an MEP.
Based on the most recent year, 2008, the details are as follows:
Salary:
Gross: £63,504.71 Net: £40,534.75
(A UK MEP receives the same salary as a UK MP and pays UK tax and NIC. UK MEPs are currently in the same pension scheme as MPs, but can also pay into an additional scheme from their own resources.)
Secretarial Allowances:
These are not paid to or through the MEP but directly, on foot of contracts, by the European Parliament to the contracted staff. Each year the amounts paid are regularised and audited by the Parliament.
In 2008 the total paid in sterling to Jim Allister’s staff was £144,975.00 gross, divided over 7 staff.
An MP, for servicing one of the 18 constituencies in Northern Ireland, gets a staffing allowance of £90,505 pa, plus staff pensions and other benefits (MEP’s staff get no such provision).
Office allowance:
This standard allowance is also meant to cover constituency travelling expenses, as MEPs, unlike MPs (who get 40p per mile), do not get a mileage allowance within their constituency. Finding that the allowance is insufficient to meet the full costs of his office operation, Jim Allister does not use any of it for travel. Unlike MPs, MEPs do not get free postage or free computers.
In 2008 Jim Allister received £26,407.07 into his office account from Europe. The main outlay of same was as follows:-
Telephone: £3254.59; Postage: £2650.82; Electricity: £1577.46; Water: £296.94; Rates: £4592.67; Rent: £4895.80; Office Equipment rental: £3900.00; Office supplies: £1512.10; Gas: £780.00; Computer repairs and upkeep: £1457.22; Cleaning: £400; Sundries: £600; Commercial bin collection: £245.62; additional office furnishings: £550; laptop purchase: £600.
Travel expenses:
MEPs do not get free travel but get a flat rate allowance to travel from their constituency to Brussels or Strasbourg, based on the cost of an economy-class flexible ticket for air travel plus a distance allowance. It works out from Northern Ireland at about €1200 per return trip. In 2008 Jim Allister made 29 return trips.
There is no free travel for MEP’s families, whereas an MP’s spouse and children can have up to 15 return trips to London per year and the MP is unlimited in his/her free access to business class air travel to and from London.
Daily allowance:
There is no equivalent to the London allowance paid to MPs (presently up to £23,083pa irrespective of how infrequently they attend Parliament), but MEPs get a daily allowance of €287 for living expenses for each day they spend working in Brussels or Strasbourg. In 2008 Jim Allister received this allowance for 103 days spent in the European Parliament.
Publicity fund:
MEPs, like MPs, have access to a publicity fund – it varies according to whether the member is in a political group or is an independent. In Jim Allister’s case it amounts to up to €38,000 pa. This money can be used for such publicity ventures as establishing and administering a website, producing promotional material and taking specialist advice on a subject. Jim Allister uses this money to fund his monthly Brussels Briefing bulletin and to operate his website. He has also produced a DVD about his work as an MEP. Every item of expenditure requires express approval from Parliament staff.
Further available funding:
There is a further fund of €4000 pa available for additional travel throughout Europe or abroad, but Jim Allister has not sought or used any of this money.
Foreign trips:
In 2008 Jim Allister travelled to Norway with the Fisheries Committee and Brazil with the Agriculture Committee. He travelled “hors quota”, which means he travelled not as part of the funded delegation but at his own expense and without qualifying for the daily allowance payable on missions. Hors quota members have the opportunity to recover some of the cost from their Publicity budget. He subsequently recouped the cost of his economy air tickets and some hotel costs for the Norwegian and Brazilian visits from this fund. He has reported on these various trips on his website.
