Members of parliament paid their relatives and loved ones more than ££.7 last year an increase of more than 50% since the general election. Some Figures from the times this morning. Mp's employing relatives. 137 2011-2012 167 2013-2014 Number of relatives. 141 168 Total pay for relatives. £2.4m £3.8m #Average pay for relatives. £17.101 £22.240 Total expenses claims, all £71m £101m Whitehall watchdogs had demanded an end to practice of employing relatives on what were on occasion doubtful legitimate employment but the MP's objected and was dropped and not included in the so called tougher expenses regime yet the bill climbs ever higher. 103m quid buys a lot of duck houses.
It's not terrible in that there is an argument towards using your spouse or another family member as a PA, considering their access to the MP it makes some sense. But they've taken the piss too much for too long and it's time for a shake up.
The average pay is what makes me not worry about this kind of thing. Given that whitehall entirely relies on unpaid interns, I think there are great problems than 170 odd MP relatives doing a bit of admin for pretty normal wages.
The starting/lowest rate for the people ( juniors/secretary ) working in the architects offices where I clean is £20 ( an hour ), gradually climbing up to £80 for the bosses as such, so I'd agree the amount they are earning is fair enough for the type of job. But yeah, they are taking the piss when it comes to how legit many of these jobs are- more transparency and better book keeping to prove work done etc.
Is that £22.240 the average hourly wage or is it meant to be an average annual wage of £22,240? Also, it would be good to know the median average wage since we don't know how many are employed for how many hours. (How many are full versus part time etc)
