Scottish Parliament MSP salaries are set to increase again - this is by how much

Government ministers have once again agreed to freeze their pay - but MSP salaries will increase by 3.2 per cent in April.

MSPs’ salaries are set to increase by 3.2 per cent in April - but government ministers will once again refuse a pay increase.

Holyrood’s finance committee was told on Tuesday morning that MSPs’ pay will increase in line with the average weekly earnings index of 3.2 per cent for 2025/26. This means each MSP’s salary will increase from £72,196 to £74,506.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad
MSP salaries will increase by 3.2 per cent.MSP salaries will increase by 3.2 per cent.
MSP salaries will increase by 3.2 per cent. | Andrew Cowan/Getty Images.

Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone’s salary will increase from £54,256 to £55,992. Once her MSP salary is added on top of this, her total salary will be £130,498.

Her two deputies - Annabelle Ewing and Liam McArthur - will see their salaries increase from £33,989 to £35,077, bringing their total pay to £109,582.

Meanwhile Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC’s salary will increase from £70,881 to £73,149 and Solicitor General Ruth Charteris’s salary will increase from £51,257 to £52,897.

The 3.2 per cent increase is less than the 6.7 per cent increase in MSP wages seen in 2024/25. There were increases of 1.5 per cent in 2023/24 and 3.4 per cent in 2022/23.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

There was no increase in MSP wages in 2021/22 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Had the Parliament followed the average weekly earnings index that year, the increase would have been 5.1 per cent.

However, the Scottish Government confirmed ministers and Cabinet secretaries would continue to decline a pay increase, meaning ministerial pay will once again remain at 2008/09 levels. This applies to ministers’ total pay, affecting both their ministerial salary and their MSP salary.

The First Minister receives £135,605, Cabinet secretaries receive £96,999 and junior ministers receive £81,449. This is 30.4 per cent below what ministers would be receiving had there not been a pay freeze introduced.

It is estimated this voluntary pay freeze has saved £2.23 million between April 2009 and March 2025.

Comments

 0 comments

Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.

Dare to be Honest
Follow us
©National World Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.Cookie SettingsTerms and ConditionsPrivacy notice