Salary of the Speaker

4.41The payment of a fixed salary ‘for the better support of the dignity of the Speaker of the House of Commons’ was first authorised by an Act of 1790.1 In addition to a salary as a Member of Parliament, the Speaker is entitled to a salary of £77,208 (as at 1 April 2018).

To ensure the independence of the Speaker, the Speaker's salary is a charge upon the Consolidated Fund and so not subject to annual approval by Parliament.2 After vacating the office of Speaker, the holder is granted a pension under the Parliamentary and other Pensions Act 1972, Part 2, and in any case invariably relinquishes membership of the House. Under the 1972 Act, the widow or widower of the Speaker is also entitled to a pension.3

Footnotes

  1. 1. 39 Geo 3, c 10. The payment of £6,000 in the Act was reduced by the House of Commons Officers Act 1834 (4 & 5 Will 4, c 70) to £5,000 in 1834. No change was made until 1965, when the salary was increased to £8,500 (Ministerial Salaries and Members' Pensions Act 1965). In 1972 there was a further increase, by virtue of the Ministerial and other Salaries Act 1972, which was re-enacted as the Ministerial and other Salaries Act 1975.
  2. 2. House of Commons (Speaker) Act 1832 (2 & 3 Will 4, c 105), s 1.
  3. 3. Section 27.