Payments made to former MPs following loss of office or retirement

Request

Under Freedom of Information please provide me with details of the following:

  • How much money the following politicians received after being made redundant by voters: Nigel Dodds, Emma Little-Pengelly and Elisha McCallion, broken down per MP.

  • How much money Sylvia Hermon received after she retired as MP for North Down.

  • How much money each of the above former MP’s staff received as a result of them losing/giving up their seats.


Response

I can confirm that we do hold information relevant to your request which relates to MPs who lose their seats following an election or who retire. All MPs receive a Winding-Up Payment to assist them with completing any outstanding parliamentary work and closing down their offices. The Winding Up Budget is a standard amount for all departing MPs dependant only on whether they are based in London or not and is the equivalent of two months salary.

The current budget for departing MPs can be found under Useful Documents, Departing MP Budget Summary 2019-20

In addition, if an MP as two years service or more, they are entitled to Loss of Office Payment which is equal to twice their statutory redundancy allowance. 

More information about the payments made to departing MPs can found on the web page mentioned above. 

The information you have requested is subject to a Refusal Notice under section 21 of FOIA as it is available from our website. 

Ref:
RFI-202002-12
Disclosure:
19 May 2020
Categories:
MPs' PAY AND PENSIONS
Exemptions Applied:
Section 21