What's Democracy Worth?

IPSA regularly consults with the public on how MPs should be paid and funded. In 2025 we wanted to increase our engagement and give the public a chance to tell us what matters to them when it comes to funding democracy.

At the start of the year we held a series of roundtables with academics and political experts, and in September we worked with an independent, external organisation to convene our first Citizens’ Forum on MPs' pay and funding.

This ambitious listening exercise has helped to inform our consultation on MP pay and funding for this Parliament and has been guided by one question: What’s Democracy Worth?

Citizens' Forum

In September 2025 IPSA worked with New Citizen Project – an independent, external organisation – to convene our first Citizens’ Forum.

Twenty-three members of the public, representative of UK society, were recruited to listen to expert speakers and determine what we should consider when deciding how MPs should be paid and funded.

Citizens' Forum report

The members of the Citizens’ Forum were asked to consider the question: how should MPs be paid and funded to best support our democracy? Their report is an overarching answer to this question and provides us with recommendations for MP funding in the future.

Read the report