Bulletin, 30 March (Taxable costs, MP parental leave & absence, April rent payments and IPSA Online update)

The Scheme of MPs’ Staffing and Business Costs 2023-24 takes effect from Saturday 1 April 2023.

As part of our objective to provide a great service that helps you focus on what really matters, our finance team has created a timetable of key dates to make it easy to see what needs to be done and when.

Timetable and key dates calendar.

Taxable costs

Travel costs are the costs that are incurred when MPs' Staff are undertaking a business journey. These can include plane or rail tickets, bus fares, mileage, tolls, congestion charges and parking, and related costs such as accommodation, subsistence, and incidental expenses.

Details of travel costs that MP Staff can claim for are set out in the Scheme and all claims must have a parliamentary purpose. Reimbursement of travel costs must also meet the criteria set out by HMRC to determine whether they are ‘taxable’ or ‘non-taxable’

As the new financial year is about to start, we have produced some guidance to help MPs’ Staff with any taxable costs.

For more information, visit Taxable travel for MPs' Staff on IPSA Online.

MPs’ parental leave & absence

IPSA is committed to ensuring its rules help to support MPs in maintaining a family life and support MPs who require time away from work for other reasons.

This includes supporting MPs before, during, and after the birth or adoption of a child (including surrogacy) and those who may be absent due to sickness or the need for medical treatment. We are also committed to supporting those with caring responsibilities for others.

IPSA has developed alternative, flexible funding arrangements to support MPs to take an absence from work for an extended period, and so that their constituents and their office continue to be supported during that period.

We have now updated our guidance to reflect our recent consultation and report on MPs' parental leave and extended absence.

For more information visit, MP parental leave & absence on IPSA Online.

April rental payments & Year-end pro-rating

If we pay the rent for your IPSA-registered accommodation or constituency office directly to the landlord/agent on your behalf, and the next payment is due between 31 March and 3 April, this will have been paid on Tuesday 28 March.

As a result, your accommodation or office costs budget spend for 2022-23 may be temporarily artificially larger than it should be.

Please be assured that any rent which we have paid directly and relates to the new financial year (1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024), will be moved into the appropriate budget for the new financial year as part of our usual year-end process.

If you require further assistance and information you can book a call with a member of our Homes, Offices and Security Team (HOST).

You can find information about your IPSA team on our Contact us page.

Year-end IPSA Online update

We will be carrying out work on IPSA Online between Friday 31 March and Saturday 1 April.

This is due to the system being updated to reflect the new budgets for the 2023/24 financial year.

During this period, you will still have access to the system and be able to make claims but please be aware that the data available on your dashboard and extracted from reports may not be accurate at this time.