IPSA launches Scheme and pension consultations

Today IPSA launched two consultations.

The first is the Consultation on changes to The Scheme of MPs' Staffing and Business Costs which sets out the rules, eligibility and budgets governing MPs’ business costs. The proposed changes concern the 2022-23 financial year.

IPSA are keen to hear the views of MPs, their staff and our wider stakeholders on these changes and how best they should be implemented.

The changes proposed to the Scheme fall into two categories: efforts to make the Scheme more flexible, intuitive, and simple in line with IPSA's Corporate Plan and measures to update the Scheme in light of changing working patterns following the Covid-19 pandemic. IPSA is considering the possible equality impacts of the changes proposed in this consultation.

The full consultation document is available on the IPSA website. If agreed, changes would take effect from 1 April 2022.

The second is the Consultation on MPs’ pensions: Responding to the McCloud judgment.

This follows an earlier consultation last year on the principle of whether changes should be made to the MPs’ pension scheme as a result of the McCloud court judgment, which identified age-related discrimination in some other public service schemes. Although the judgment does not apply directly to it, the MPs’ pension scheme does contain similar provisions to those in other public service schemes which were the subject of the legal case.

On the basis of that earlier consultation, IPSA concluded that it was right to proceed with the proposed changes, which are likely to include two key elements: closure of the final salary (FS) section of the scheme; and an ‘immediate’ rather than ‘deferred’ choice offered to impacted members about the benefits they accrue during a defined ‘relevant period’. Since then, IPSA has worked on designing the detail of the policy solution, which would be translated into rule changes to the scheme.

The full consultation document is available on the IPSA website.

ENDS

For more details contact IPSA's Press Office.

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Notes to Editors

1. IPSA was created in 2009 by the Parliamentary Standards Act. The Act was amended in 2010 by the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act. Together they gave IPSA three main responsibilities:

• to regulate MPs’ business costs

• to determine MPs’ pay and pension arrangements

• to provide financial support to MPs in carrying out their parliamentary functions

2. IPSA is independent of Parliament and the Government. This allows us to make decisions about the rules on business costs and on MPs’ pay ourselves, without interference.

3. The Scheme of MPs' Staffing and Business Costs governs what MPs can and cannot claim. We review our rules regularly and consult the public when we do so.

4. Consultations are a key part of IPSA's decision making. IPSA encourages the general public's involvement in our work through the submission of written responses.