'Scandal' that new Police Ombudsman will earn more than the UK Prime Minister say UUP MLAs amid plans to change law so office-holder can be suspended

However, Jon Burrows and Doug Beattie also hailed the fact that moves are now under way to re-write the rules around the ombudsman's employment, so that politicians in the future will be able to suspend them from office.

The Executive Office has confirmed to Mr Burrows that a bill allowing this is in preparation.

All this comes after the Executive Office announced on Monday that the process for finding a replacement for the outgoing Marie Anderson has now begun (something which falls to the first and deputy first ministers).

Ms Anderson has been in post since 2019 (barring two periods of paid absence) and during the summer she announced that she intends to retire in December.

She takes a salary of between £145,000 and £150,000 according to the annual reports from the ombudsman's office.

However, the salary for her replacement will be higher; the post has been advertised with a salary of £173,854.

This takes her pay higher than that of Keir Starmer, whose office as leader of the UK commands a salary of £172,153 (although Sir Keir voluntarily takes a lower salary of £166,786).

In a joint statement, Jon Burrows MLA and Doug Beattie MC MLA said: “It is scandalous that the Police Ombudsman will be paid more than the Prime Minister.

"And unlike the Prime Minister, the ombudsman can’t be removed if they’re doing a bad job.

"Our scrutiny exposed that there is no power whatsoever to suspend the office-holder even if they were charged with a serious crime.

"This is absurd and an anathema to natural justice given the power the ombudsman wields."

This is a reference to the fact that the Police Ombudsman spent over two years under investigation on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice and misconduct in public office (she was ultimately not charged).

The UUP has said that one of the things which the saga revealed is that are no powers in place to suspend an ombudsman.

Quizzed on what they are doing about this, the first and deputy first ministers have now written to him to say: "We have met with officials to consider how best to introduce a power to suspend office holders under our appointing authority.

"Work is now ongoing to enable bill instructions to be prepared leading to the introduction of primary legislation providing for the suspension of all office holders who have been appointed under statute."

Mr Burrows' and Mr Beattie's statement continued: "Since we have exposed this gap, we have pressed the justice minister and the Executive Office to remedy this urgently, and it has now been confirmed that the [Executive Office] are addressing this.

"This demonstrates the value of Ulster Unionist scrutiny and leadership.

"There are many other reforms required to ensure that the ombudsman as an organisation improves its performance, speeds up its investigations, and commands confidence in both the police and the public as a fair and effective investigator of complaints.”

Asked when and why it was decided to up the ombudsman’s salary, the Executive Office referred the News Letter to the Department of Justice, which in turn said: “The Police Ombudsman is paid in line with point 5.2 of the Judicial Salaries pay scales.

"The Judicial Salaries pay scales are increased in line with the Senior Salaries Review Board’s (SSRB) recommendations.”

The SSRB is a seven-strong panel that reviews salaries of public officials across the whole UK.

The Police Ombudsman’s office told the News Letter it “has consistently shown that it carries out fair and independent investigations into police conduct”.

It said: “We report publicly on occasions when officers break the law or breach their Code of Ethics. Equally, when they have done nothing wrong, we say so.

"Yesterday’s report on the Alexander McCartney case is just one example.

"Although there were significant delays in bringing him to justice for horrific crimes, we identified no police misconduct given the serious pressures officers had been under due to under-resourcing.

"The PSNI said it fully accepted the findings and ‘the lessons that must be learned’.

“It’s also important to note that the Police Ombudsman is held to account by a number of independent bodies.

"These include, among others, the Minister for Justice and her department in relation to matters of governance and resourcing, the Comptroller and Auditor General, the Criminal Justice Inspectorate, and the Information Commissioner.”