Bulletin, 7 September (Payment card reminder, data publication, business costs and rail ticket bookings)

Welcome back after recess.

Our phone lines are closed tomorrow 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 11 September.

This week's bulletin contains information on:

• Payment card reminder

• Data publication – 14 September

• Business costs data publication – safe descriptions and checking claims

• Rail ticket bookings

Payment card reminder

Please ensure all lines for July 2023 and earlier are reconciled and approved by our Validation team by 8 September to avoid the suspension of your card.

If you have any concerns about your payment card reconciliation or have been unable to meet this deadline please let us know so we can further support you.

Your August payment card lines are available on IPSA Online to reconcile.

The deadline is 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 in guidance on reconciling your payment card.

Data publication – 14 September

Next week we are publishing details of MPs’ business costs for April 2023 and May 2023 on Thursday 14 September 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.

Business costs data publication – safe descriptions and checking claims

IPSA publishes the details of business cost claims made by MPs in support of their parliamentary role.

It is important to understand that some free-text information you enter when submitting a claim will be published.

When you enter information in the 'Description' field when making a claim in IPSA Online, please check there is nothing that could risk the privacy and security of MPs and their Staff if it were to be published.

We have produced a guide on how to meaningfully enter descriptions that illustrate how public money is spent, where to enter sensitive claim details for our validators, as well as detailed information on why it is important to check your data before it is published and how to do so.

We have also produced a webinar that explains how and why we publish business costs data and some useful resources you can use to help explain your data to the public.

You can watch the webinars in full or bitesize formats and read our publication policy and full guidance, by visiting How your claim data is published.

New way to make rail bookings

The Parliamentary Travel Office – serviced by Reed & Mackay (R&M) – has launched an online booking tool and a mobile app that allow MPs and their staff to book and manage IPSA-funded rail travel.

Bookings can be made on the go with mobile eTicketing with seat reservations via the R&M/Mobile app or online booking system.

R&M bills IPSA directly for travel bookings when you purchase tickets using the app or online, so there is no need to make a claim on IPSA Online and you no longer need to worry about lost tickets or keeping evidence of a purchase when using this service.

IPSA imports the costs into IPSA Online so they can be allocated to your Travel budget.

Read more about the new way to book and manage IPSA-funded rail travel – including how to activate your account, download the app, and undertake training.