Speaker statement on IPSA budget
10 April 2020
Following media reports about IPSA's decision to offer an additional budget for MPs' office costs to support home working for staff during the coronavirus pandemic, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the House of Commons, made the following statement:
"It is wrong to characterise this extra £10,000 allocated by IPSA as MPs giving themselves additional funds. On the contrary, this money is being used to enable MPs' staff to set up home working to support distressed constituents at a time of crisis.
"Many MPs have seen their casework soar as a direct result of coronavirus. Enabling staff to work remotely is the best and the safest way for them - and the constituents they are in contact with - to communicate and work together during these difficult times.
"The additional budget is there to draw down on if it is needed and required - and it will have to be accounted for in the usual way."
For background:
Mr Speaker is the chairman of SCIPSA – the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.
SCIPSA's role is to approve the members of IPSA and to scrutinise and approve its budget.
IPSA sets and regulates MPs' salaries, pensions, business costs and expenses – independent of Parliament and the Government. It publishes all MPs' claims and expenses.