MPs’ Annual Business Costs for 2017-18 and Annual Assurance Report

Date published: 15 November 2018

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority today published figures for business costs and expenses incurred by MPs in the 2017-18 financial year.

The overall figures show:

Spending on all budgets was £117.4 million. This is up 6.8 per cent on the £109.9 million spent in 2016-17, due to the General Election that took place in June 2017.

This overall sum included: 

  • Office Costs – £12.3m, up seven per cent from £11.5m in 2016-17

  • Staffing – £86.6m, up two per cent from £84.7m in 2016-17

  • Accommodation – £8.4m, up nine per cent from £7.7m in 2016-17

  • Travel & Subsistence – £4.2m, down 22 per cent from £5.3m in 2016-17 

  • Other – £287k for costs not covered by the Scheme of MPs' Business Costs and Expenses such as post-election rental payments and removal costs, up from £60k in 2016-17

  • Security – £4.2m, up 62 per cent from the £2.6m spent in 2016-17

  • Disability – £123k down 13 per cent from £141k in 2016-17

IPSA has also published its annual report on assurance for 2017-18. This year, the annual report on assurance summarised work conducted on spending during the 2017 General Election. IPSA found that MPs had high levels of compliance with the rules. The review found that spending on former MPs’ loss-of-office payments were 71 per cent lower than they had been in the 2015 General Election. Our priority is to make sure that the rules are followed and that MPs are appropriately funded for future elections in order to ensure public confidence. We will use this review to identify any areas of risk and we want to make sure that the Scheme appropriately reflects what MPs need as they leave Parliament.

The Annual Review of Assurance also summarises a policy review of spending on MPs’ constituency offices which found that there is great variation in the quality of MPs’ offices. Again, IPSA will be using the assurance findings to develop future policy and a better understanding of how MPs' constituency offices work. Additional assurance work showed that MPs’ spending on hospitality is low and provides no cause for concern, and that spending on late-night taxis has increased since a change to the rules in April 2017, but that claims are within the rules.

IPSA’s Chair, Ruth Evans, said:

“IPSA helps Members of Parliament to carry out their role, both in Westminster and in their constituencies. We do this by paying their legitimate business costs within a strong regulatory framework. We publish details of all their spending six times a year, and today, we round up all the spending for the 2017-18 financial year. Overall there has been a 6.8% increase in spending, mainly due to the General Election of June 2017.

“MPs’ security remains of paramount importance to IPSA. This commitment has contributed to a further rise in the spending on security measures for MPs.

“Today we are also publishing our Annual Review of Assurance. This contains information on all the activity we undertook in 2017-18 to ensure that MPs’ claims for business costs were appropriately evidenced and compliant with the Scheme of MPs’ Business Costs and Expenses. Compliance by MPs with IPSA’s rules is at a very high level overall.

“We have also published information on MPs’ payment cards. We occasionally switch off payment cards, in line with normal business practice. This ensures that IPSA can control and account for all public funds. In the vast majority of cases, MPs or their staff had missed an administrative deadline to provide supporting information. There was no cost involved to the taxpayer, and the cards were switched back on when the evidence was received.”

Notes for editors

  1. Figures used in the press release above are actual and have not been adjusted. They may be subject to minor revisions.

  2. Detailed figures for individual MPs are available. here.

  3. The reports of a thematic assurance review on the 2017 General Election and a policy review on MPs’ constituency offices have been published in full.

  4. We have also published our routine bi-monthly publication of MPs’ costs and expenses for all claims processed in June and July 2018. The data reflect claims processed in that two-month period and should not be interpreted as a trend or pattern.

  5. The overall spend does not include the amount spent on MPs’ Security and Disability Assistance. For 2017-18 these are £123k for disability assistance and £4.2m for security assistance. These figures are published separately as these costs are not attributed to individual MPs.

  6. Travel includes travel by both MPs their staff and their dependants.

  7. The total spend figures also include costs for the staff absence budget which covers the cost of MPs staff on maternity, paternity or adoptive leave or the costs of staff who are on long term sick leave. Previously this spending was paid from the staffing budgets.

  8. In addition to the Annual Review of Assurance, we have published the detailed reports.

  9. IPSA has also published some details about MPs’ payment cards, in response to a Freedom of Information request.

  10. The next publication of MPs’ business costs and expenses will be on Thursday 17 January 2019.

For more details contact the IPSA Press Office on 020 7811 6462 or email communications@theipsa.org.uk.

Outside office hours, if your query is urgent please call 07792 242 736