Broader Policy Objectives Resettlement Allowance
9.Each former Member who is not returned following an election (either through standing down or through non-election) is entitled to receive a resettlement allowance. This allowance is based on ‘salary as a Member’ (i.e. the basic salary, excluding for example any additional ministerial salary) and is calculated according to the Schedule to the 2000 Act. The Schedule provides a matrix that shows the percentage to be applied to the salary as a Member in order to calculate the resettlement allowance. That percentage is based on a Member’s age at the date of dissolution and the length of his or her service. The Schedule specifies that all Members who have less than 10 years’ service as a Member receive the same level of allowance regardless of their age. At the 2007 election, for example, all Members received the same level of allowance even though some had been Members since the establishment of the Assembly while others had only been Members for a matter of months. The SSRB report suggested that resettlement allowance should, like a redundancy payment, reflect length of service.
10.The SSRB report also noted that, by including a Member’s age as a factor in determining resettlement allowance, the 2000 Act runs contrary to the principle of age discrimination legislation.
Having considered the issue, the Commission, in accordance with the SSRB’s recommendation, is recommending that resettlement allowance be renamed as resettlement payment and calculated at one month’s salary for each year of service as an Member, up to a maximum of nine months’ salary, and paid to any person who is a Member of the Assembly immediately before its dissolution who does not stand for election to the Assembly, or does stand, but is not returned as a Member.