Loans made to connected parties employed by MPs

IPSA holds the information that you request.

As you will be aware, for the purposes of the MPs’ Scheme of Business Costs and Expenses (‘the Scheme’), a connected party is defined as:

1. a spouse, civil partner or cohabiting partner of the member;

2. parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, uncle, aunt, nephew or niece of the member or of a spouse, civil partner or cohabiting partner of the member; or

3. a body corporate, a firm or a trust with which the MP is connected as defined in section 252 of the Companies Act 2006.

As with many employers, all MPs’ staff are entitled to an interest-free season ticket loan in which the up-front cost of an annual travel season ticket is provided to the employee and repayments are made over the course of the year by way of a salary sacrifice. As these loans are tax-free under HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) rules, no interest is charged.

No connected parties have defaulted on loan repayments, and no connected parties are in arrears.

Four season ticket loans have been made to two connected parties over the course of the last Parliament. Please find further details relating to these loans below.