Claims for reimbursement by MPs

IPSA holds some of the information that you request.

Taking your requests in turn:

• In the period May 2010 to present, how many claims for reimbursement by MPs have been initially returned to the MP making the claim and subsequently paid? What were the value of those individual claims?

Claim forms may be returned to an MP if it appears that the expense could be payable in principle under the Scheme, but cannot be paid on the basis of the information and evidence provided at that point because there is not sufficient information to establish whether it is in fact payable.  A claim form may be returned, for example, where required information about an expense is not included on the online claim form or in the evidence, or where evidence is missing, or where there is a discrepancy between the claim form and the evidence.  This process does not amount to a refusal of that claim.  It aims to give the MP the opportunity to provide the required information and resubmit claims which appear to be potentially payable so that they can be paid, rather than IPSA processing and publishing them as not paid because all the necessary information was not provided when they were originally submitted.  To date, 8,059 claims for reimbursement have been returned to MPs, which were subsequently paid.  The total value of those claims was £3,876,388.79.

• In the period May 2010 to present, how many direct payments by Ipsa to third parties on behalf of MPs were (a) paid late, and (b) mistakenly paid more than once. What were the value of these payments?

We do not hold a log that specifically identifies those payments that were late or those that were duplicate payments.

• In the period May 2010 to present, what was the total value of claims made by MPs' staff for reimbursement of expenses (excluding travel and subsistence)?

IPSA only reimburses MPs’ staff direct for their travel and subsistence expenses.

• In the period May 2010 to present, how many direct payments by Ipsa to third parties on behalf of MPs resulted in the wrong amounts being paid in the first instance, requiring further payments or adjustments to be made? What were the value of these adjustments?

Since IPSA began making simplified payments in November 2010, 10,564 payments direct to third parties have been made. Out of those, 272 payments were made that required adjustments to be made, which might have been at the request of the Member of Parliament due to a change in the payment amount or due to an IPSA administration error.  As a percentage of the total number of simplified payments made, adjustments amounted to 2.57 per cent of the total number of payments made.

The total value of those adjustments was £247,815.23 out of a total value of £15,893,050.11 paid via simplified payments.

• What are the total number of expenses claims made by MPs which were initially returned in each calendar month since May 2010?

12,287 claims for reimbursement were returned to MPs. Annex A shows this for each calendar month since IPSA operations began in May 2010. Claims that were returned may not have been resubmitted to IPSA or they may have been resubmitted under a new claim form and, therefore, there is no direct linkage between the 12,287 claims returned and the 8,059 claims returned and subsequently paid.

Annex A – number of claims for reimbursement returned to MPs since May 2010