FOI 25-23: Salary Supplements

Information Standards Freedom of Information Response

Our Ref: FoI 25-23

3 October 2023

Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“FOIA”)

I am writing to confirm that the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission (Assembly Commission) has processed your request dated 10 September 2023 in line with the Freedom of Information Act 2000. In your request, you asked:

 “1. I would like all information relevant to the SMT minutes for 28th June 2023 meeting where the meeting references Salary Supplements including the framework for these 'Supplements' and any communication between NI assembly and any other entities regarding these 'Supplements'.

2. I would also like a detailed account/breakdown of why these are a necessary expenditure, what roles (Job Titles & Descriptions, Grade) will take advantage of these & the stats on gender equality for the awarding of these supplements.”

The Assembly Commission recently concluded a pay benchmarking exercise. The purpose of the exercise was to determine whether the Assembly Commission has a fit for purpose pay and grading structure, that attracts and retains high calibre staff to support the important work of the Northern Ireland Assembly, and that pays staff fairly and equitably for the work they do.

The pay benchmarking exercise concluded that the vast majority of Assembly Commission posts are paid in line with the recommended market salary.

The exercise also concluded that there are a number of posts which the Assembly Commission is paying under the recommended market salary and a Salary Supplement Policy has been introduced to address these salary anomalies. The Salary Supplement Policy is shown in Appendix A.

A list of the job roles including a brief description of the role and the grade of the role can also be seen in Appendix A.

A total of 18 staff members will avail of the salary supplement (11 males and 7 females).

You have the right to request a formal review by the Assembly Commission and if you wish to do so, please write to me at the above address. If after such an internal review you are still unhappy with the response, you may appeal to the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF which will undertake an independent review.

The Assembly Commission may publish details of your FOI request and its official response within the organisational disclosure log. The request will be completely anonymised and you will not be identified in any way. This is to meet the requirements as laid out by in the agreed publication scheme with the Information Commissioners’ Office.

Yours sincerely

Information Standards