FORMER DUP MLA Jimmy Spratt took up a paid post with a cross-border quango despite receiving a boost to his assembly pension pot because he retired due to ill health.
The 64-year-old former RUC officer stepped down from the assembly in September and was replaced by Emma Pengelly, a former special adviser to Peter Robinson.
Mr Spratt retired on the grounds of ill health after battling bowel cancer for several years. The Irish News revealed last week that he recently joined the board of InterTradeIreland, for which he will be paid £5,235 a year.
Before his appointment to the cross-border business body, Mr Spratt made a successful application to the Assembly Members’ Pension Scheme seeking enhanced terms that would boost his pension entitlement.
The five cross-party MLAs who act as the assembly's pension scheme trustees assess the application, considering a number of factors, including whether the applicant is likely to work again. If approved, the retiring MLA receives a full pension entitlement based on them working until they are 65.
A similar enhancement was granted to Iris Robinson when she retired from the assembly on grounds of ill-health after her affair with teenager Kirk McCambley was exposed.
It is understood the former DUP leader's wife had her annual payment boosted by more than £2,000. The assembly has refused to disclose what extras Mr Spratt was granted. The Irish News contacted the former South Belfast MLA yesterday but he declined to comment.
While the trustees approved Mr Spratt's application for an enhanced pension package, it is understood they rejected a similar bid by Ulster Unionist Michael Copeland.
The 62-year-old former UDR officer resigned from the assembly last August after a period of absence.
Mr Copeland was said to be suffering from depression and in December 2014 said he had attempted to take his own life months earlier.
The appointment of Mr Spratt to InterTradeIreland came after a number of Ulster Unionist appointees to cross-border bodies did not have their terms renewed.
The move, which saw a total of DUP nominees replace their UUP counterparts on various north-south bodies, was in apparent retaliation for Mike Nesbitt's decision to lead his party out of the executive in the wake of Kevin McGuigan Snr's murder.
