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The BBC's Nick Robinson says that MPs' pay will be increased to £74,000 a year
MPs' pay should be increased by £6,000 to £74,000 a year from 2015, the Commons expenses watchdog is to say.
But the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) will also recommend cuts to perks such as meal allowances and taxis and a less generous pension scheme.
And "golden goodbyes" paid to retiring MPs could also be trimmed.
But some MPs say such a rise would be out of step with pay elsewhere and could damage Parliament's reputation.
The proposals, to be unveiled later on Thursday, will go to consultation before being finalised later this year. MPs used to decide their own pay but it was handed to Ipsa, an independent body, in the wake the 2009 expenses scandal.
MPs are currently paid £66,396, but that is due to rise to £67,060 in April 2014 and rise by a further 1% the following year.
The recommendation amounts to a rise of around £6,300 a year, or 9.3%, on what MPs would be getting in 2015.
'Totally wrong'The proposals will also mean lower "golden goodbyes" for departing MPs, the BBC has learned.
"Resettlement grants" paid under the old expenses scheme were worth up to £64,766 for long-serving MPs still of a working age, the first £30,000 of which was tax-free.
They are not expected to be brought back for the 2015 election.
"Start Quote
End QuoteA Labour source pointed out that the law which created Ipsa forces it to review MPs' pay again at the start of the next Parliament, so this pay rise was "pie in the sky" "
But BBC political editor Nick Robinson said he understood that the money saved would not fully offset the increase in MPs' salaries.
Some MPs have attacked the proposals, saying Ipsa should have taken greater account of the state of the wider economy and the pay freeze across the public and private sector.
It has been reported that MPs' current final salary pension scheme will be downgraded to a career average system.
And the £15 allowance MPs are allowed to claim for dinner when they are required to stay in the Commons after 19:30 will be scrapped.
Prime Minister David Cameron has said such a rise would be "unthinkable" and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said he would not take one.
Margaret Hodge, Labour chairwoman of the influential Public Accounts Committee, said it was "inappropriate at a time when every public sector worker is being asked to take a 1% rise" that MPs should be out of line.
Labour MP John Mann said: "It really gives us all a bad reputation, a bad name. It's been bad enough after the expenses scandal and, frankly, if this was to go through it would be catastrophic for the reputation of Parliament."
He said MPs needed "to be in the real world" and Ipsa had got its calculations "totally wrong".
MPs' pay around the world (2012) | |
|---|---|
| Source: Ipsa | |
| Spain | £44,618 |
| France | £52,028 |
| UK (Westminster) | £65,738 |
| Germany | £72,294 |
| United States | £111,251 |
| Japan | £167,784 |
"Why should we be compared with doctors? Why not compare us with cleaners?" he told the BBC News channel, adding that current MPs' pay was "perfectly reasonable" and "we should not get more than the rest of the country".
MPs will not get a vote on the pay decision but Mr Mann said he hoped to force one in the Commons before the next election in 2015, which Ipsa could not ignore.
But Ipsa chairman Sir Ian Kennedy has warned MPs not to interfere, as putting off difficult decisions was what lay behind the 2009 expenses crisis.
A senior Labour source said: "Our view is clear that any decision about MPs' pay must reflect wider economic circumstances and what is happening in the rest of the public sector.
"It must be consistent with what is happening to nurses, teachers and others in the public sector as well as conditions in the private sector."
Pay freezeThursday's recommendations are also expected to include a formula to determine how MPs' pay will rise in future.
In a speech last week, Sir Ian said the watchdog had been "impressed by the idea that MPs' pay should move in line with the fortunes of those they represent, such that MPs' pay would be indexed to movements in national average earnings. If the average wage goes up, MPs' pay would go up. If the average wage falls, MPs' pay would fall."
MPs used to vote on their own pay but from 2008, recommended pay rises were made by the Senior Salaries Review Body which were supposed to take place automatically.
However its recommendation for a 1% rise in 2011-12 was voted down by MPs, at the instigation of the government, because of a two-year pay freeze imposed on the public sector.
In May 2011, powers to set and administer MPs' salaries passed to Ipsa, which went on to freeze MPs' pay for 2012-13.
MPs and members of the public will be able to take part in a consultation before Ipsa publishes its final plans - expected in the autumn - which would then come into force without the need for further legislation.
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