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2025-01-23 23:04:00
The price of changing greater than 2,000 MPs and political employees after the election reached £52.8m, the physique managing MPs’ pay has revealed.
Almost all of that was spent on closing down former MPs’ workplaces and serving to new MPs set theirs up, with round a 3rd of the overall spent on redundancy funds for workers.
The Impartial Parliament Requirements Authority (Ipsa) report stated Labour’s landslide election had been a “as soon as in a technology occasion” which noticed 350 MPs depart workplace – greater than at any basic election within the final fifty years.
In response to its report, 2,373 folks misplaced their job consequently – together with 2,023 employees who labored for MPs who both misplaced their seat or stood down.
On the 2019 election solely 460 members of employees have been successfully made redundant.
Ipsa, which is funded by public cash by means of a grant from the Treasury, stated the “almost-unprecedented” turnover had helped push up the price of supporting those that misplaced their jobs by 286%.
Prices included ending rental agreements, settling excellent funds and making employees redundant.
MPs themselves have been entitled to a lack of workplace cost, set at twice the authorized minimal, in the event that they misplaced their seat and had been an MP for at the very least two years.
All MPs who both misplaced or stood down have been additionally eligible for so-called “winding up” funds value 4 month’s wage. Since April 2024, the fundamental annual wage of a MP is £91,346, plus bills.
This was to compensate them for the time spent closing down their workplaces, which was prolonged at this election from two months to 4. They may additionally declare prices throughout this time.
Ipsa stated a mean of £35,200 was spent per MP on redundancy funds to each MPs and their employees – up from a mean of £19,900 on the 2019 election.
Ipsa’s chair Richard Lloyd stated: “An MP’s workplace is sort of a small enterprise. They’re the employer, and any MP not returned within the 2024 basic election had till 4 November to shut down their workplace solely.”
He added: “Ipsa is happy with its position in supporting a consultant Parliament, the place folks with out personal funds should not be prevented from turning into an MP – or working for one.”
Established within the wake of the 2009 bills scandal, Ipsa oversees each MPs’ pay and bills, together with the salaries of the constituency caseworkers, parliamentary assistants and different employees that work for them.
