Humza Yousaf’s first minister pension will be £2,600 per year when he retires
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Users on social media have claimed that former first minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf will be entitled to £52,000 per year for the rest of his life after stepping down.
It was also claimed such payments would start immediately.
The pension scheme for first ministers which would have entitled Mr Yousaf, 39, to around £52,000 per year from the moment he resigns was scrapped in 2009.
Instead, when he reaches the Scottish Parliamentary Pension Scheme retirement age, which is currently 65, Mr Yousaf will be entitled to up to around £2,600 per year for the period he served as first minister.
The former SNP leader is also entitled to further retirement payments from his time as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) and as a Holyrood minister.
A law introduced in 1999 said that “any person who has held the office of first minister or presiding officer shall, on ceasing to hold that office”, be entitled to a pension.
It added that “the annual amount of a pension payable under this article shall be equal to one half of the salary”.
But in 2009 new legislation was passed that meant that anyone who became first minister after that date was no longer entitled to that type of pension.
The First Minister of Scotland is currently paid £176,780 per year but £72,196 of that amount is for their work as an MSP and would not be included in such a calculation.
If these rules were still in place today then Mr Yousaf would have been entitled to a pension of £52,292, which is half of £104,584 – his additional pay for being Scottish leader.
The 2009 law said that the 1999 calculation would “continue in respect of any individual who holds or has held those offices on the new rules day, ie those already entitled to or receiving that pension”.
However, Mr Yousaf was elected first minister on March 19 2023 so is not covered by the previous law. Instead, that part of his pension entitlement will be based only on his time in office up to his resignation on May 7 2024.
MSPs have two pension options which mean they can contribute either a higher or a lower proportion of their salaries each year. If an MSP contributes the higher rate they are entitled to one 40th of their final annual salary as a pension. If they contribute the lower rate they are entitled to one 50th of their final salary as a pension.
Because Mr Yousaf served for just over a year as first minister, he will be entitled to a pension of either one 40th or one 50th of £104,584. That would equate to around £2,600 or £2,100 per year depending on which option he chose.
He will also be entitled to a pension for the years he serves as an MSP. Mr Yousaf was elected as a regional Glasgow MSP in 2011 and in 2016 became the Glasgow Pollok MSP, an office he still holds.
If he were to step down today after 13 years in Holyrood – assuming he had been paying the higher contribution for that entire period – he would be entitled to a little under £23,500 per year, which is added to his first minister pension.
Mr Yousaf is also entitled to further pension payments from his various ministerial roles.
Mr Yousaf served as a minister for five years and nine months in the Scottish Parliament and then as a Scottish secretary of state for four years and nine months. Combined, these entitle Mr Yousaf to another pension pot of a little over £7,200.
By the PA news agency’s calculations on current figures, and assuming he has contributed the higher rate for all of his time as an MSP, Mr Yousaf is currently entitled to around £33,300 in yearly pension payments when he retires at, or beyond, age 65.
Scottish Parliamentary Pension Scheme (archived)
The Scotland Act 1998 (archived)
MSP salaries as of April 2024 (archived)
Scottish Parliamentary Pensions Act 2009 (archived)
Scottish Parliamentary Pensions Act 2009 (asp 1) (archived)
Scottish Parliament – Humza Yousaf profile (archived)
Historic pay for ministerial and secretary of state roles (archived)
Salaries from April 2022 (archived)
Salaries from April 2020 (archived)
Salaries from April 2018 (archived)
Salaries from April 2016 (archived)
Salaries from April 2014 (archived)
