Bulletin, 14 September (Consultation report, data publication and payment card reminder)

We hope you're keeping well.

This week's bulletin contains information about:

• Consultation report

• Data publication

• Payment card reminder

IPSA Online will be closed for planned maintenance on Saturday 23 September.

Our phone lines will be closed on Friday 6 October for training.

If you have an urgent query that day, please email us and use the word 'urgent' in the subject line. Our phone service will resume as normal on Monday 9 October.

Consultation report on constituency boundary changes and support for MPs leaving Parliament

On 19 July 2023, we published a revised version of the Scheme.

The changes to the Scheme clarified the eligibility rules for both the Loss of Office Payments and the winding-up payments made to MPs to ensure they are fair and provide the appropriate support to MPs leaving Parliament. The updates were necessary to account for changes to the UK parliamentary constituency boundaries and repeal of the Fixed Term Parliaments Act.

Based on our experience of previous elections, we know it can take some time to fully close down a former MP’s parliamentary affairs and financial affairs with IPSA. This is because there are many tasks to complete for themselves, their office, and their staff.

The Scheme was, therefore, amended to provide a longer winding-up period of four months (instead of two) from the next election.

The Scheme was also amended so that where staff members are made redundant (as a result of the employing MP leaving Parliament) and qualify for – or are in receipt of – statutory pay entitlements for parental leave, they may receive the full amount of occupational pay they would have been entitled to had their employment not ended. As this is outside of normal contractual terms, the employing MP would need to request the additional payment to be made.

The updated version of the Scheme follows a public consultation on possible changes that ran from 13 April 2023 to 2 June 2023.

The report summarising the responses and recommendations for changes to the Scheme has been published.

For more information, read the Consultation report.

Data publication

IPSA has published the most recent figures for business costs incurred by MPs in April and May 2023. This is the latest in our routine bi-monthly publication of MPs’ business costs.

The next publication is due on 16 November 2023, when annual data will also be published.

Next week we will email MPs individually with details of the annual information that will be published in November and provide an opportunity for comments.

For more information, visit MPs’ staffing and business costs.

Payment card reminder

Your August payment card lines are available on IPSA Online to reconcile, with a deadline of 8 October 2023.

We strongly advise you to begin your reconciliation well before the deadline to minimise the risk of your payment card being suspended.

Further details can be found in our Payment Card policy and by visiting our guidance on reconciling your payment card.