Bulletin, 7 July 2022 (Return to publication, new costs and payment card tracker, House Services Fair and contingency funding for hotels)
Last week we launched our myth buster video addressing the top five misconceptions about MPs' pay and business costs. Thank you to everyone who promoted the film on your channels. Please feel free to use the video if it would help to address concerns within your constituency. We also have five new guidance videos for completing IPSA tasks.
On 14 July we will return to publishing business costs, further details below. We have a number of articles on our website that might help you answer queries about MPs' pay and business costs.
We are looking forward to seeing many of you at the House Services Fair on 11 and 12 July. Please see the information below to find out more and book a meeting.
Our phone lines will be closed on Friday 8 July and Tuesday 19 July for training. If you have an urgent query on those days, please email us and state in the subject line that it is urgent.
This week's bulletin contains information on:
Business costs publication
December pay survey
House Services Fair - 11 and 12 July 2022
Claims and payment card tracker
Contingency funding for hotels
IPSA Myth buster video
Information you should still be aware of includes:
Training and Support
Regional Teams
Contact details
Business costs publication
Regular publication of information about business costs has been paused while we got updated security advice and to make sure that our processes are not creating additional risk for MPs/staff/their families. We will be restarting publication of claims information next week on 14 July, covering the data that has already been shared with MPs for the period from June 2021 to January 2022.
Following the security advice, we now have reassurance that no significant changes to our approach are needed, but we are making changes in two areas to further minimise risks: remove to/from and details from taxi claims and remove details from venue hire and surgery claims.
We will continue to redact information from other types of claims in line with normal approach, whether to remove a security risk or to prevent personal information from being disclosed. Apart from the redacted items, we will also restore the detailed information on historical claims in due course.
Claims processed between February and May 2022 will be published in September. We will share this data with you as soon as possible and will ensure you have time to review the data before it’s published.
December pay for MPs and MPs' staff
All MPs and MPs' staff currently get paid on the last working day in December. We could bring this forward so that everyone gets paid the week before.
There are benefits to being paid earlier in December but it also creates a longer gap in January before being paid again.
Please complete the survey below by Friday 29 July to let us know your preference.
If there’s a clear preference to change the date, we will look to implement that this year. Without a clear preference for change, we’ll keep the December pay arrangement as it is now.
House Services Fair - 11 and 12 July
We’re pleased to be joining the House of Commons House Services Fair again this year on 11 and 12 July. We support you to manage your staffing and business costs and use IPSA Online and our staff will be available to say hello and answer any queries you may have.
You can book a meeting with one of our trained team members using the booking link below or come along to our stall to meet the team in person. We will have representatives from our account management, payroll and Homes, Offices & Security (HOST) teams who will be able to provide support and guidance. We look forward to seeing you then.
Claims and Payment Card Tracker
We have created a Claims and Payment Card Tracker so that you can track the status of reimbursement claims and payment card transactions submitted on IPSA Online. This tracker will tell you whether your claim is saved as a draft, under review by IPSA, or requiring action from you.
You can find guidance on using the tracker here.
Contingency funding for hotels
There are set limits for hotel accommodation claims but we understand that it's not always possible to find suitable hotel accommodation within the hotel limits.
If you are not able to find a hotel within the cost limit, you may be able to claim the additional cost through contingency funding.
You will need evidence that you made a reasonable effort to find a hotel within the limit, beyond the Travel Office and your usual accommodation provider, by submitting screenshots.
Myth buster video
We have created a video to tackle five common misconceptions about MPs' pay and business costs. The video is below and you can read more here.
Please feel free to use this video on your digital channels.
Information you should still be aware of...
Training and support
We have a wide range of webinars available to help you with our rules and processes. In the spotlight this week are our regular IPSA Online training sessions and the managing your properties, payment card and staffing budget webinars.
The current training sessions are:
Introduction to IPSA Online
Managing your business costs: claims and budgeting
Managing your properties: the IPSA property lifecycle
Monies owed webinar
Payment Card webinar
Returned claims webinar
Staffing budget webinar
Details of all the training sessions can be found on our Training and Development page.
Regional Teams
We have dedicated Payroll Officers, Account Managers and HOST team members for each region. Please check the map below to see who to contact.
To contact your Payroll Officer or Account Manager, please visit our call booking page. You can also email payroll@theipsa.org.uk or info@theipsa.org.uk.
Contact Us
Call the support team: You can call us directly on 020 7811 6400. Your call will be answered by a member of the team, not necessarily your Account Manager or Payroll Officer, who will try to resolve your issue or will forward to a member of the team.
Book a call: to speak to your dedicated Account Manager or Payroll Officer using the call booking system. They will contact you at the allocated time. You can find information about your IPSA team on our Contact us page.
Website: check the MP and MPs' staff website for general queries.
Email: email info@theipsa.org.uk or payroll@theipsa.org.uk with queries for your dedicated Account Manager or Payroll Officer. Your email will be directed to your team and someone will get back to you. Our aim is to get back to you within five working days but we’ll reply sooner if we can.