Debate contribution: Comptroller and Auditor General: Salary

Debate contribution by Mr Alan Chambers on 2 March 2026.

MLA: Mr Alan Chambers
Party at the time: Ulster Unionist Party
Date: 2 March 2026
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Committee Business
Heading: Comptroller and Auditor General: Salary
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5432612

Text

On behalf of the Audit Committee, I ask the House to support the motion. Article 4(1) of the Audit (Northern Ireland) Order 1987 provides for the salary of the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) to be determined by a resolution of the Assembly. Standing Order 58(2) provides for the Audit Committee to table any motion relating to the salary. Under the legislation, the salary must not exceed:
"the maximum salary for the time being payable to any person employed in the civil service",
and it cannot be decreased by the Assembly. The proposals remain within those limits. The salary is charged on and paid out of the Consolidated Fund under section 63 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998. The Assembly cannot pass a resolution that:
"imposes or increases a charge on the Consolidated Fund"
unless the Minister of Finance makes a recommendation. I can confirm that the Minister was content to make a recommendation in this case. The Committee has taken every available opportunity to emphasise the enormous value of the C&AG's work and the great responsibility that the postholder has for the external audit of central government bodies in Northern Ireland, including Executive Departments, their agencies and a wide range of other public-sector bodies. The postholder is also head of the Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO), which works closely with the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in its scrutiny of public spending. The C&AG's salary should equate to that level of responsibility. That is not only fair but essential for safeguarding public accountability. The salary has not been reviewed since March 2022, at which time the Committee recommended a salary level of £154,527, which was in line with the judicial group 5 salary at the time. In the plenary debate, however, the then Committee Chairperson acknowledged that there was a question about whether judicial group 5 was the most appropriate group against which the salary should be benchmarked. The then Committee therefore recommended that the Committee consider reviewing the options open to it to determine the salary in the future. The current Comptroller and Auditor General was appointed on a fixed salary of £154,041. In anticipation of a fuller review of the arrangements, however, the terms of appointment were not referenced to a judicial salary scale, nor was reference made to annual revalorisation. It would not be reasonable or logical for the Committee to recommend that the Assembly return to the link with judicial group 5 salary, which is approaching a figure of £190,000 per annum, without robust evidence to indicate that that salary level or linking the office of the C&AG with that of a judge was appropriate. Having considered the available evidence and the legal position, the Committee is not recommending that the Assembly return to the link with judicial group 5 as the salary mechanism for the reasons set out in its report. Having completed the review set out in the Committee's report, the Committee recommends to the Assembly that it increase the salary by 4% for the period 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026. That is in line with the percentage pay award made to Assembly Commission staff and represents an increase of £6,181 to £160,708. We also recommend that that salary level be applied retrospectively to make an allowance for inflation from the beginning of the financial year 2023-24, which was the first full financial year in which the current postholder was in office. The Committee considered longer-term salary-setting options, such as linking the C&AG salary to Senior Civil Service salaries, and those options are set out in the report. In the end, there was not a sufficient evidence base on which to make a robust recommendation. Importantly, the Committee has identified the need for further work in this regard and recommends that a feasibility study on a full job evaluation exercise be carried out in line with the timescales for the appointment of the next C&AG.
I, again, thank the incumbent C&AG, Dorinnia Carville, and the NIAO for their invaluable work in safeguarding public accountability in Northern Ireland. I ask the House to support the motion.

683 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Awaiting analysis

This record has not been analysed yet. It is not counted in any total until it has been assessed.

Disagree with this assessment?

Classifications can be challenged. A person reviews every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.

Challenge this classification