Bulletin, 1 December 2022 (Payment card reminder, IPSA rent valuations – RICS surveyor commissioned and rail strike guidance)

On Friday 9 December our phone lines will be closed for training. If you have an urgent query that day, please email us and use the word "urgent" in the subject line.

Our phone service will resume as normal on Monday 12 December.

This week's bulletin contains information on:

• payment card reminder

• rent valuations – RICS Surveyor commissioned

• rail strike guidance

Payment card reminder

Payment card lines for October are now on IPSA Online. Please ensure all lines are reconciled and approved by our Validation team by 8 December to avoid the suspension of your card.

For guidance on reconciling your payment card, visit Card payments.

Read our payment card policy.

Following the announcement of postal strikes, some delays are possible that might affect the delivery of payment cards, PINs, and card readers.

Rent valuations – RICS surveyor commissioned

IPSA made a change to the Scheme this year regarding the provision of valuations of market rent when registering properties.

Previously, MPs were required to provide a RICS valuation should their property meet certain criteria before IPSA would register the property.

This led to more work for MPs and their staff, potential delays when registering a property, and costs coming out of the MP’s budget without the MP having the choice of incurring that cost. 

Now, MPs are no longer required to provide a rental valuation when registering or renewing a property with IPSA, nor will the cost come out of the office or accommodation budget.

IPSA has contracted CBRE Ltd to provide rental valuations for IPSA and will fund any valuations from the contingency budget. 

MPs can still instruct and claim for their own surveyors and rental valuations but will not be required to do so by IPSA.  

If one of your properties is selected by IPSA to be valued, we will contact you and CBRE via email. CBRE will then arrange an appointment with you or one of your team at the property. 

For more information about rental valuations and IPSA’s process, please visit Rental valuations.

Rail strike guidance

We know there is some concern about the impact of the planned rail strikes, and the difficulty you might face travelling to or from a place of work or event location. We have published guidance on our website to answer any queries you may have.

IPSA does not normally reimburse travel costs for commutes – i.e. journeys between your home and normal place of work (Westminster or the constituency office).

However, where commuting to an office location is unavoidable, and you incur significant costs as a result (e.g. for a long taxi journey), you may consider applying for contingency funding. Approval will need to be based on the necessity of the journey, the level of cost and the alternatives considered.

Where a staff member is required to travel to their normal place of work but is unable to return home, or it would be unreasonable to return home and then attempt to travel the following day, we will consider requests for hotel costs, with an explanation of the circumstances and unavoidable nature of the cost.

Likewise, where an MP does not have central London accommodation (e.g. an outer London MP), we will consider requests for hotel accommodation to enable them to work from Westminster if this is required. To note, hotel stays where an MP is working late beyond 10pm are claimable, in line with the normal rules.