Speaker John Bercow Hangs On To Million Pound Pension

Commons Speaker John Bercow has said that he will keep his £1m pension when he retires at 65. He becomes one of the three "great offices of state" to keep a gold-plated pension.

The Speaker's office had indicated that Bercow would announce his decision in person to MPs on Thursday when the government published a parliamentary bill abolishing the special pension for future office holders from 2015.

However Bercow's office decided instead to issue a statement on parliament's website saying that when he reaches the age of 65 he will take the full pension.

This will add half of his Speaker's top-up salary a year – £37,883 at today's price – to his MP's pension. The pension is index-linked and involves no contribution by the recipient.

David Cameron and Lord Chancellor Chris Grayling are the two other holders of the “great offices of state”, who are entitled to the enhanced pension after just one day in office. They have bothed waived their rights to the payout and will take the normal ministerial pension.

Kenneth Clarke, the former lord chancellor, has also said he will not take the special pension.

The ministerial pension is based on contributions and years of service.

49-year-old Bercow has made one concession though. He will not take the pension, as he is entitled to do, if he stands down as Speaker as planned in 2018 when he will be 55. He will wait until he reaches 65.

In its statement, the Speaker's office said Bercow felt it would not be right for him to receive the enhanced pension in his mid-50s.

"Having taken appropriate advice, he has therefore proposed before he leaves office to waive his entitlement to the Speaker's pension until he reaches the age of 65. At current prices this will mean, along with the pay cut he took in 2010, a total minimum saving of approximately £430,000 to the exchequer. The Speaker believes it would be wrong, especially in the current economic conditions, not to depart from the status quo in his particular circumstances."

Bercow however has come in for criticism over his decision to take the pension, which is believed to set a poor example to public sector workers.

Matthew Sinclair, the chief executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: "The Speaker enjoys one of the most generous pensions in the country. If future Speakers, prime ministers and lord chancellors are rightly seeing their non-contributory pension deals axed, it's difficult to justify the current occupants of those posts clinging to theirs. Everyone is being asked to pay more into their pensions so politicians should not be immune from the same pressures at the expense of taxpayers."

(H)