A proposed pay rise for MHKs is part of a package of recommendations that would also see the cost of paying for politicians fall by just over £8,000.

The emoluments of members of Tynwald panel was established to explore politicians’ pay, establish whether the current system is fit for purpose and to recommend new salaries without increasing the cost to the taxpayer.

Its proposals have now been published ahead of next week’s sitting of Tynwald.

Under the changes, departmental members would no longer receive extra pay as all MHKs who aren’t ministers, with the exception of the Speaker, would receive the same basic pay of £65,098.

Currently basic pay is £43,479. But department members get an extra £13,000 on top. Most members of Tynwald are department members.

All MHKs also get £7,400 in no-questions-asked expenses.

The proposals scrap extra pay for department membership and the expenses system.

Ministers would continue to get more, however. But the uplift from the basic salary drops from 50% to 15%.

The panel was chaired by former industrial relations officer Ian Cochrane. The other members were Jennifer Houghton, the chairman of the Institute of Directors in the island, and former Chief Minister Sir Miles Walker.

It puts greater emphasis on the scrutiny role of members and places a question mark on the power of the Council of Ministers to control departmental members who would not lose money for resigning from a departmental role any more.

Members of Tynwald who do stand to lose out on money under the changes would be the next Chief Minister, who would see a drop of £1,038 in their pay compared to current incumbent, Howard Quayle.

It is proposed that the changes be implemented following next year’s general election for MHKs, with MLCs coming into line following the next two selection processes in 2023 and 2025. So this would not affect Mr Quayle unless he were to remain in post for a further term.

The other roles to see changes would be the Speaker, who would lose £2,107, and the President of Tynwald, who gains £2,241.

This change is proposed to reflect the similarity between the roles. However, this would seem to fail to reflect the constituency work undertaken by the Speaker as an MHK.

The group losing out the most would be MLCs who have a departmental role.

Under the proposals, MLCs would see their basic pay rise to £61,455 but, like MHKs, they would not be entitled to any further money for departmental roles.

At the highest possible level, currently an MLC with a Treasury position, for instance Bill Henderson MLC, can earn up to a maximum of £68,274. Under the proposed scheme, he would be capped at the £61,455 unless he were to be appointed as a minister.

There was debate among people who gave evidence to the panel about whether MHKs and MLCs should be paid different amounts.

The panel concluded that, given the 24/7 nature of the public’s expectations of MHKs, it was appropriate for MLCs to be paid less than MHKs.

The other key area of change will be in members’ expenses. Currently Tynwald members receive a fixed sum of £7,403, no questions asked and no receipts required.

The panel looking into the issue mentioned a newspaper headlined ’End MHKs’ expenses system say MHKs’, which appeared in the Manx Independent on October 4, 2018.

A number of Tynwald members advocated changes to the reporter who wrote the story and to the panel. The panel agreed, saying a fixed annual sum for expenses was no longer appropriate.

As such, the proposal is that the figure be included in new basic salary for MHKs, and is therefore taxable, rather than being available as an extra payment. Any expenses incurred for off-island trips will still be available and ’subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act’.

However, while it is pay rises for some and falls for others, the changes would achieve the principle of not costing more money.

In fact, if Tynwald were to support this, which it will have its chance to this month, it would save the taxpayer £8,111 a year.