---

Members' Salaries, Pensions and Allowances

Some Members used to be trade union officials. I remember people saying, ““You should be paid the average wage of the members.”” As I was negotiating for Fleet street at the time, that was not so bad, but my response always used to be, ““Would that be with overtime at premium rates?”” I do not say this by way of complaint, but Members should look at their hourly rate. Our job has a high level of input, and there have been changes that have increased that. One of them is the increase in our case load. Another is the increase in the number of campaigns that are directed at Members, and which require either correspondence or attendance at meetings. In the past, many examples have been given of the increase in mail, but I am sure that all Members will have experienced an exponential increase in e-mail, even over the past 18 months—and not just the standard correspondence on issues, but many more constituents e-mailing about individual cases and problems.