11th April

There has been much comment on press reports that MPs are to be given £10,000 to cover additional costs incurred through working from home during the Coronavirus crisis. The media coverage of this is inaccurate and aimed at attacking MPs unfairly.

The extra contingency was decided by the independent body IPSA, which administers and verifies MP funding and is for the purchase of laptops or other equipment needed for staff who normally work in an office and are now working from home. Payments are payable if verified by receipts. The verification is done by the independent body IPSA. It is not a sum of money paid to MPs. 

I will not need to use this contingency.