An online petition to ‘stop all pay’ to MLAs has reached close to 22,000 signatories. With the Assembly mothballed for 10 months now – and with direct rule (however it is styled) looking increasingly inevitable – the idea of pulling the plug on Stormont’s finances has real appeal. Indeed, as of yesterday, we are told that the Secretary of State is seeking legal advice as to whether MLAs should continue to be paid. Surely the advice is obvious: no work, no pay. Simple.

Or is it? MLAs, as their job title makes clear, are Members of the Legislative Assembly. They are responsible for the introduction and scrutiny of legislation. In the absence of an Assembly that role is defunct and, quite rightly, MLAs should not be remunerated for it.

Yet MLAs have an additional role which they fulfil with or without a functioning Assembly. As is the case in most democracies, helping individual constituents with their problems and concerns is assumed to be part and parcel of an elected representative’s remit. In that regard, MLAs are no different and their constituency work has continued unabated.

A typical MLA’s in-tray will consist of a bewildering array of constituents’ problems, which he or she is expected to assist with. Welfare applications, public housing issues, anti-social behaviour, children’s school placements, you name it. Added to that are the local organisations and charities that expect the ear and support of their local MLA.

This ‘constituency service’ is increasingly demanding of time and resources. Recent research reveals that the average MLA spends around 28 hours per week on constituency service, though most also employ constituency assistants to deal with casework on a full-time basis.

There is much more to constituency service than coffee mornings and ribbon cuttings. Constituents arrive at the MLA’s surgery in duress and desperation. They are facing eviction and homelessness; their child is being bullied at school; they’ve waited years on medical care and are in daily physical pain; a relative has attempted suicide. Few would dispute that this is emotionally and psychologically taxing work.

The point is that this service is of value – not only to the constituents who seek it (even if only in a cathartic sense) but to our democracy. Any representative democracy worth its salt will maximise the opportunity for its citizens to redress their grievances. A tier of 90 locally accessible MLAs goes some way towards achieving that.

In the absence of a functioning Assembly, certainly, reduce MLAs’ salaries. But we have more to lose than gain from stopping them entirely. The constituency role of MLAs is worth protecting – and to do that we should pay for it.