Bulletin, 26 October (Payment cards, living wage rates, data publications, vacancy reminder and phone line closure)

We hope you're keeping well.

Last week we announced the launch of a consultation on MPs’ pensions.

The consultation proposes a redress payment process that provides a similar outcome for members’ tax treatment to members of other public sector pension schemes affected by the McCloud judgment.

To submit your response and to read the consultation in full, visit our website.

This week's bulletin contains information about:

• Payment card reminder

• Living wage

• Annual publication

• Bi-monthly data publication

• Policy specialist vacancy

• Phone line closure

Payment card reminder

The deadline for the September payment card spend and earlier is 8 November 2023.

All lines must be reconciled and approved by our Validation Team by 8 November to avoid your card being suspended.

If you encounter any issues that prevent you from meeting this deadline, please let your account manager know as soon as possible.

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

Living wage

On Tuesday details were announced about the new Voluntary Living Wage rates, which are independently calculated by the Living Wage Foundation.

This year the rate increased by 10% in the UK. It is now £12.00 per hour for the UK and £13.15 per hour for London.

To ensure MPs are able to pay the Voluntary Living Wage to all staff if they choose to, we have increased the maximum of the intern payscale to £25,643 per annum from 1 November 2023.

The MP Staff Contract and Job Description Tools have been updated to reflect this for any new interns you may employ.

If you want to award an increase to any current interns from 1 November – subject to affordability from your staffing budget – please complete the MP Contractual Changes Form in IPSA Online, and submit and approve it within our usual monthly payroll deadlines.

Annual publication

In our upcoming annual publication, we plan to publish figures for business costs incurred by MPs for their parliamentary duties in the 2022-23 financial year.

Last week we sent MPs another reminder email about their annual data from this address: ipsa_online@theipsa.org.uk.

We strongly advise that you check your data and contact us as soon as possible if you think anything has been missed and to provide any comments.

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

Bi-monthly data publication

We are publishing details of MPs’ business costs for June 2023 and July 2023 on Thursday, 16 November, as part of our routine bi-monthly publication of data.

You can access the latest batch of your business costs now using the Publication preview service.

We strongly advise that you check your data before it is published.

Please contact us as soon as possible if you think anything has been missed.

Policy specialist vacancy

We are looking for a Policy Specialist to play a critical role in shaping, creating, and advising on policy about the Scheme of MP’s Staffing and Business Costs and other associated processes.

The role will support senior decision-makers by researching, analysing, and drafting policy, adjudicating disputed claims, and determining requests for additional financial assistance.

This role is part of the Policy and Publications team that provides advice to senior leadership and the Board on IPSA policy issues and is responsible for ensuring the Scheme of MPs’ Staffing and Business Costs remains up to date, fit for purpose, and aligned to IPSA’s strategic objectives.

This is a full-time, permanent role but we are also open to considering this as a secondment opportunity.

For more information, visit the careers section on our website.

Phone line closure

Our phone lines will be closed on Friday 3 November for training.

If you have an urgent query that day, please email us and use the word ‘urgent’ in the subject line.

Our normal phone service will resume on Monday 6 November.