Overtime paid to connected parties employed by MPs during 2015-16 and 2016-17

Under the Scheme of MPs' Business Costs and Expenses ('the Scheme'), Staffing Expenditure may only be paid for the salary of one employee who is a connected party, unless an MP employed more than one connected party on 7 May 2010. MPs must declare whether or not the staff member falls within the definition of a connected party when registering the individual with IPSA.

However, they are not required to provide the nature of the relationship to the individual, and this is not information that we collect.

At the end of each financial year, we publish information on each MPs’ expenditure over the course of the year. This includes information relating to any connected parties employed during the year, including their name, job title, salary band and whether they were employed full or part time. This information can be found via this link.

Where a staff member employed by an MP works hours additional to their contracted hours, overtime payments may be paid from the Staffing Expenditure budget.

Overtime is typically paid to part-time members of staff at their standard hourly rate, until their full-time equivalent hours are reached. For full-time staff (and part-time staff who have reached their full-time equivalent hours), the overtime rate is typically paid at 1.5 times the hourly rate. In the figures, below, we have separated additional hours worked by part-time staff members from overtime hours worked by full-time staff (and part-time staff exceeding their full-time equivalent hours).

Overtime may also be paid to existing staff members who are providing cover for staff members who are absent due to long term sick leave or parental leave, for example. In these instances, overtime may be paid through the contingency fund where the MP has notified IPSA of the need to cover staff absence.

Overtime claimed during the 2010-2015 Parliament

On 17 May 2016, we responded to another request under the FOIA, reference CAS-47630, in which we provided information on overtime paid to connected parties during the 2010-2015 Parliament. You can find a copy of that response on our website via this link.

Overtime claimed during 2015-16 and 2016-17

Please find figures below for overtime paid to connected parties during 2015-16 and 2016-17.

Alongside the total number of hours paid, we have broken down this figure by those hours paid as regular overtime from Staffing Expenditure and those paid as contingency payments to cover staff absence.

Financial Year 2015-16

The total sum of these overtime payments is £18,988.82 before PAYE.

Financial Year 2016-17

The total sum of these overtime payments is £10,398.06 before PAYE.