MEPs will see their annual staff allowances, used to employ assistants both in Brussels and their constituency offices, rise by €18,000 annually next year, despite austerity measures still in force in many EU member states.

The move follows a compromise deal reached within the Parliament’s Budgets committee, where MEPs from the largest political groups agreed to increase staff allowances by €1,500 a month next year.

This raises the allowances to €275,000 per deputy every year.

Over and above their salaries, all MEPs are entitled to employ up to three assistants in Brussels and an unlimited number in their political constituency. For this purpose, all the 751 MEPs are given a monthly allowance of €21,379.

Assistants are paid directly by the Parliament to avoid the possibility of abuse.

MEPs in the committee argued the allowances had not gone up since 2011. The EPP had originally asked for a €3,000 monthly increase but the Socialists wanted this to be halved.

Other groups, such as the Greens, opposed this raise arguing that MEPs already benefited from lucrative financial packages.

As a compromise, the increase will be tied to reforms in the way MEPs engage their assistants in constituency offices.

The lack of a capping has led to accusations in the past that some locally engaged assistants are used for other political or personal work which may not be directly related to EU affairs.

Last year, OLAF, the EU’s anti-fraud body, launched an investigation into 20 MEP assistants from the French far-right group National Front, who were accused of breaking the Parliament’s rules by working on national campaigns.

Now, there will be some form of capping on local assistants that each MEP can engage and how much they are to be paid.

Apart from an annual salary of more than €96,000 a year (see table), MEPs are also paid a €306-a-day subsistence allowance while in Brussels or Strasbourg and benefit from allowances for travel expenses, office management and travel outside the EU.

What MEPs get