UK (Parliament Politic Magazine) – MPs who are leaving their jobs will now receive more money to help them finish their work before they go. This amount of money will be doubled to £17,300. When MPs lose their jobs or decide to quit, they will get paid for four months after they leave. This is to help them finish their tasks and responsibilities, which is longer than the current period of eight weeks. This change was made by an organization called the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa). They looked at how payments should work after the next election.
Financial Assistance for UK MPs
MPs who lose their jobs also get extra money as a kind of “goodbye” payment. This extra money is twice as much as the regular payment people get when they lose their jobs. The new money for finishing their work comes on top of this.
MPs have to show that they are using this time to finish up their work. The people who work for MPs can also get this extra money. Government ministers get different amounts of money when they stop their jobs, and a top minister gets £16,876.
Ipsa announced these changes in July. They did this after thinking about the new election rules and changes to how long parliament members can work. Ipsa talked to MPs and sent them a message during the summer. They said, “The time we gave before was not enough to finish the work that can be complicated. Ipsa saw that the staff who work for MPs were often asked for help after the time ended, to find papers for costs.
Now, MPs will have four months after the next election to finish everything. This will help them finish their tasks, and we can also help new MPs and their staff.” Other changes include giving this extra payment to MPs who don’t get elected again, even if they were trying for a different area. Before, they could only get this money if they lost in the same area. Some areas are changing, so this rule is different now.
Members of Parliament Will Get More Money
Members of Parliament (MPs) who lose their jobs or decide not to run in the next election will now get more money to help them. This is happening at a time when many people in the country are finding it hard to afford their daily expenses.
This extra money, which used to be £8,600, will now be £17,300. This money is meant to help MPs who are leaving their jobs to close their offices and take care of their staff as they leave.
Some people who think about these things say that this decision is not fair to the people who pay taxes. They feel like it’s not right. But the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa), which decides how much MPs should be paid and agreed to this increase, said that it could actually save money because MPs won’t need to pay their staff when they leave.
Before the last election in 2019, MPs got money to cover their expenses for two months after they lost their jobs. But Ipsa thought this was not enough and increased it to cover four months’ worth of expenses.
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Ipsa Spokesperson Talks About MPs
An Ipsa spokesperson said, “We talked to the public and looked at the evidence. We also thought about our experience from past elections. We saw that the time MPs had before was not enough for them and their staff to close their offices and finish their tasks. It’s not fair to make them do this after they stop working. So, we made this time longer to help MPs and the people they work for.”
Around 71 Members of Parliament (MPs) have said they will leave the House of Commons next year. MPs who have worked for more than two years can get special payments if they leave. The longer they have worked; the more money they get. But if they say they’re leaving when there’s no election coming up, they won’t get this money.
The ruling says: “Former MPs will continue to have access to their normal budgets (pro-rated) for that four-month period, and they will continue to employ staff as needed to assist them in winding up their affairs.”