Independent Remuneration Board

 

About the Board

The Assembly Members (Independent Financial Review and Standards) Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 created an independent body to determine the salaries, allowances and pensions payable to Members of the Assembly. The Independent Financial Review Panel issued its first Determination in 2012 and its final Determination in 2016.

The current Independent Remuneration Board was created in September 2025, when the 2011 Act was updated by the Assembly Members (Independent Remuneration Board) Act (Northern Ireland) 2025. The 2025 Act made changes to the powers and governing framework of this new independent body and the Board will determine the salaries and pensions ( though not allowances) payable to Members of the Assembly. The Board comprises a Chair and two other members who are each appointed for a five-year term. The Board is independent of the Assembly and the Assembly Commission.

The Board will make its determinations on salaries and pensions only once in respect of each Assembly, however the 2011 Act does make provision for further determinations in exceptional circumstances

 

Members of the Board

Alan Lowry

Alan Lowry

Alan Lowry is Executive Chair of Environmental Street Furniture, the award-winning global exporter of street furniture, he established with his wife Caroline in 2012. He is also chair of the Federation of Small Businesses in Northern Ireland and on their UK wide policy board since 2021.

Mr Lowry currently serves on the UK Government Small Business Growth Forum, and as an Export Champion for the Department of Business and Trade, as well as regular TV, radio and press interviews and monthly columns in many local, and national publications.

He previously served as Chair of the Electrical Wholesalers Federation, and the Institution of Lighting Engineers. He is currently a guest lecturer in Ulster University Business School.

Mr Lowry is currently Chair of the charity Zimbabwe Orphan Care, a role he had held since 2006, supporting feeding, education and orphanage programmes in Harare, Zimbabwe, and operating the ‘Jabulani’ children home.

Over an almost 40 year career in business, Mr Lowry has spent the last 13 years guiding and directing Environmental Street Furniture to global success in 30+ countries, opening an office in the USA, and winning the Queens award for international trade in 2022. Previously he was a director with WT Burdens, where he oversaw global expansion with offices opened in Australia, UAE and USA.

 

 

Craig Griffiths

Craig Griffiths

Craig Griffiths is the Head of Members’ Business Support with the Senedd Commission, overseeing teams that administer allowances and that provide generalist HR support to Members of the Senedd. Prior to taking up this role, Craig was a lawyer with the Senedd’s Legal Services team, where he provided legal advice on a range of business and corporate matters, including to the Independent Remuneration Board of the Senedd.

Now a non-practising solicitor, Craig practiced public and commercial law for 18 years, working in local government and private practice.

 

 

Robert Herron

Robert Herron

Robert Herron is a Presbyterian Minister.  He served as Clerk of the Presbytery of Omagh from 2004 to 2023.  He is a past President of the Irish Council of Churches. Currently, he is a Trustee of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, a Charity Trustee of the General Investment Fund (PCI), a Charity Trustee of the Presbytery of Omagh, Chair of the Presbyterian Herald Oversight Panel (the official magazine of PCI), a member of the Council for Public Affairs (PCI), and Convener of the State Education Committee (PCI).  He represents the Presbyterian Church on the Transferor Representatives’ Council. 

Robert is a former Chair of the Western Education and Library Board, and a past President of the NI Association of Education and Library Boards.  He was appointed to the Board of the Education Authority in 2015 and served until 2025.  During his membership of the EA, he was Chair of the Resources and People Committee, the Remuneration Committee, the Membership and Teaching Appointments Committee, the Education Committee, and a member of the Strategic Planning and Policy Committee.  He has forty years’ experience as a school governor and in 2015 was awarded an OBE for services to education.

 

Minutes of Proceedings

2025

 

How to contact the Independent Remuneration Board

If you wish to contact the Independent Remuneration Board please contact: remunerationboard@niassembly.gov.uk

 

 

Code of Conduct for the Independent Remuneration Board

In exercising its functions as described in the Assembly Members (Independent Financial Review and Standards) Act (Northern Ireland) 2011, the Independent Remuneration Board (the Board) shall at all times maintain its independence from the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission in its deliberations and determinations. 

The members of the Board shall comply with the general principles of conduct as identified by the Committee on Standards in Public Life as set out below.

Selflessness

Board members will act solely in terms of the public interest. They will not act in any manner which results in financial gain or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends.

Integrity

Board members will not place themselves under any financial or other obligation to outside individuals or organisations that might seek to influence them in the performance of their official duties.

Objectivity

In carrying out its functions, the Board shall make determinations which are based on sound and balanced consultation and research and which are in the best interest of the people of Northern Ireland.

Accountability

Members of the Board are accountable to the public for their decisions and actions and shall submit themselves to whatever scrutiny is appropriate to their office.

Openness

The Board shall be as open as possible about its decisions. The Board will give reasons for its decisions and will restrict access to information only for reasons of personal privacy or when it is in the wider public interest to do so.

Honesty

Members will declare any private interests relating to their responsibilities as members of the Independent Remuneration Board and will take steps to resolve any conflicts arising in a way that protects the public interest.

Leadership

Board members will promote and support these principles by leadership and example.

Disclosure of Interests

The Board will maintain a Register of Interests. In addition, at each meeting of the IRB, there will be a standing agenda item to allow members to declare any interests which they have in relation to the issues to be discussed.

Review

This Code of Conduct will be reviewed annually.

 

 

Boards Complaints Procedure

If you have a complaint about the way in which the Independent Remuneration Board is carrying, or has carried, out its work, you should write to the Chair at:

The Independent Remuneration Board
c/o Room 105
Parliament Buildings
Ballymiscaw
Stormont
Belfast
BT4 3XX

remunerationboard@niassembly.gov.uk

 

Please include your address if you would like to receive a written, rather than an electronic response. For information on submissions in alternative formats e.g. large print, Braille, audio cassette, and/or any adjustment requirements that ensure equality of opportunity please contact the Board.

The Board will write to you or send you an email to confirm that we have received your complaint.  You can expect to receive a response within 15 working days.  If your case is complicated, it may take longer to investigate and we will write to you or send you an email to let you know that there is going to be a delay.

Personal data associated with a complaint is never disclosed further or processed for any other purpose other than the complaint.  We will retain your personal data until we are satisfied your complaint is resolved.

 

The Ombudsman

You may choose to ask the Ombudsman to investigate your complaint.   The Ombudsman will normally only deal with your complaint after you have raised the issue with the Board.  The Board will fully cooperate any investigation by the Ombudsman.

 

The Ombudsman’s address is:

Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman
Progressive House
33 Wellington Place,
Belfast, BT1 6HN

Telephone 02890 233821
Freephone 0800 34 34 24
Email nipso@nipso.org.uk
Freepost: Freepost NIPSO

 

 

Rules of Procedure for the Independent Remuneration Board

The information below describes the manner in which meetings of the Independent Remuneration Board (‘the Board’) are conducted.

1. Meetings and Quorum

1.1. The Board will where practicable meet at Parliament Buildings.

1.2. The Board may also meet—

(a) at such other location as the Board may from time to time determine, or

(b) remotely, in circumstances where all Board members are not present in the same place and can utilise audio-visual communication to see and hear each other.    

1.3.  The quorum for each meeting is two.

1.4.  Meetings of the Board will be chaired by the Chairperson.

1.5.  If the Chairperson is unable to attend a meeting, or leaves a meeting before its conclusion, the Chairperson may nominate a member of the Board to chair that meeting in his or her absence.

1.6.  If, during a meeting, a quorum is no longer present, the Secretary to the Board must draw this to the attention of the Chairperson, who must suspend proceedings until a quorum is present or adjourn the meeting to a future date.

2. Minutes of Proceedings

2.1. The names of Board members and any other persons present at each meeting will be recorded in the minutes of proceedings.

2.2. The minutes of each meeting will be agreed by the Board, with or without amendment, at the next meeting of the Board.

3. Voting Procedure

3.1. All questions arising at meetings of the Board not decided by consensus will be decided by simple majority. 

3.2. Any decision made where only two members of the Board are present (whether or not one such member is the Chairperson) must be made unanimously.

4. Declarations of Interest

4.1. At the start of each meeting, the Chairperson will invite members of the Board to declare any interests they may have which relate to the remit of the Board, and in particular to matters scheduled for discussion at that meeting.  Such declarations must be made irrespective of whether a declaration was made at an earlier meeting.

4.2. When a person or group is making representations to the Board, a member of the Board must declare any interest they may have which relates directly, or might reasonably be thought to relate, to a financial or other interest in that person or group.

4.3. In making a declaration, a member of the Board must clearly identify the nature of the interest.

4.4. All declarations of interest will be recorded in the minutes of proceedings.

5. Publications

5.1. The Board will publish such information (whether by minutes or otherwise) as it considers necessary to ensure that the reasons for its decisions are readily ascertainable.

5.2. The Board may from time to time publish evidence and reports.

5.3. The Board will publish determinations and draft determinations in accordance with the Assembly Members (Independent Financial Review and Standards) Act (Northern Ireland) 2011.

5.4. Submissions made to the Board may be published in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation.

6. Public and Media Access

6.1. Unless otherwise agreed by the Board, meetings of the Board will not be open to the public or media representatives.

6.2. The Chairperson will act as the principal spokesperson for the Board. Where necessary, the Chairperson will be consulted in the first instance in relation to any media enquiries received by the Secretary to the Board. If the Chairperson is unavailable, another member of the Board will be contacted.

6.3. Where the Chairperson or any member of the Board is contacted directly by the media, that person may respond but must inform the other members of the Board and the Secretary to the Board of their response.