The dissolution period

Any IPSA-funded websites (whether wholly or partially funded) must not be used for campaigning purposes.

In line with guidance from the House of Commons, during the dissolution period, your websites must carry a disclaimer to clarify that you are not currently a Member of Parliament.

An example of a suitable disclaimer is:

“I am not currently an MP, as Parliament has been dissolved.”

These websites must also be frozen.

This means the website may remain online, but no new content should be added except the disclaimer, contact details and/or a link to an alternative website.

For further guidance on this and your online presence in general, please refer to the dissolution guidance published by the House of Commons.

You must not use your website for campaigning purposes, even if you repay IPSA part of the original claim.

Any repayment received from an MP related to this during the dissolution period will be transferred back and the MP will be asked to remove any campaigning material from their website.

We will conduct a real-time website review and may refer breaches to the Electoral Commission.

You can continue to make claims in relation to your constituency office. However, during dissolution, you should avoid making new purchases for office furniture, IT hardware and other capital equipment.

In the event that you lose your seat, we may find that this additional expenditure leads to difficulties in winding up your office and we aim to avoid these difficulties where possible.

If you have an exceptional requirement, claims can be submitted but will need to be accompanied by a rationale for the exceptional nature of the claim.

IPSA-funded resources (including your office, supplies and equipment funded by IPSA) can continue to be used for your parliamentary functions but not for political campaigning purposes.

Please note that IT support from the PDS may not be generally available during this period. Please refer to the House of Commons guidance for further information.

Any use of IPSA funds for either party or candidate campaign purposes falls outside IPSA rules.

Exceptions are:

• Use of IPSA-funded IT equipment for campaigning, where you pay a hire fee.

• Use of your office for campaigning, provided you repay IPSA the amount of rent/utilities costs that reflects the proportion of the office used for campaigning; or adjust your claims to reflect only the proportion that is being used for your normal parliamentary work.

For information on how to calculate rent and other costs to repay, see Using your constituency office for campaigning (below).

IPSA will require all MPs to sign a declaration after the election (including any MPs who lose their seats) to confirm whether or not they have used IPSA-funded resources for campaigning. These declarations will be shared with the electoral commission and the Compliance Officer.

For more information, visit Campaigning declaration – IPSA-funded resources.

In relation to office supplies, you should only claim the amount that relates to your parliamentary functions.

Our Validation team may request an explanation when submitting the claim.

Using IPSA-funded equipment for campaigning

To use IPSA-funded IT equipment for campaigning activities, you must pay a hire fee to IPSA.

For example, you must pay the hire fee if you wish to use an IPSA-funded office printer to print out campaigning material.

For the forthcoming election, the fee will be £250. This has been calculated based on an estimate of the value of equipment purchased per office since the last election, pro-rated for the 25 working days of dissolution.

We have also taken into account the market rate for hiring office IT equipment, to ensure the fee is set at a fair level.

The fee must be paid to IPSA no later than 30 days after Polling Day. It can be paid by BACS accompanied by a declaration form. The hire fee covers the use of any IPSA-funded equipment during the dissolution period (for example, you do not need to pay the fee for each piece of equipment being used).

The fee will count towards your candidate spending, and you should be mindful of electoral rules for candidates, including spending limits.

There are separate fees for using House of Commons-funded equipment for campaigning activity.

Using your constituency office for campaigning

You may make use of your office for campaigning, provided you repay IPSA the amount of rent/utilities costs that reflects the proportion of the office used for campaigning, or adjust your claims to reflect only the proportion used for your normal parliamentary work.

If you are making a repayment for office use, or claiming a reduced sum, please confirm the proportion (%) of the office used for campaigning and details of how you calculated the reduction/repayment (we have provided a model for this calculation below).

All repayments must be received no later than 30 days after Polling Day.

Model of calculation

If MPs use their IPSA-funded constituency office for campaigning activity, they must repay a proportion of the rent and other costs such as utilities.

This is how to calculate the amount of rent and other costs to repay.

Annual cost divided by 365, multiplied by the number of days used for campaigning.

For example, the annual rent is £10,000, and the office is used for 35 days of campaigning.

This means £10,000 divided by 365 multiplied by 35, equals £958.90

If you are using a percentage of the office or good/service for campaigning, the calculation is:

Annual cost divided by 365, multiplied by the number of days used for campaigning, multiplied by the percentage used.

For example, the annual cost is £1,200, and the good or service is used for 35 days of campaigning, 50% of the time.

This means £1,200 / 365 × 35 × 0.50 = £57.53

The repayment form can be found by visiting Repaying IPSA.

Public funding cannot be used for electoral campaigning.

IPSA and the Electoral Commission have agreed that each candidate in the 4 July 2024 General Election who was an MP before the date of dissolution must complete a Declaration Form to confirm whether any IPSA funding was used for campaigning.

This declaration applies to MPs who have stood down, lost their seats, or were returned.

You must complete the declaration irrespective of whether:

• you campaigned for yourself or others, or

• you did not campaign

IPSA will retain your declaration in accordance with our data retention policy.

A copy will be provided to the Electoral Commission who will also retain a copy.

By completing the Declaration Form, you confirm the information you provide is accurate.

The form contains information about:

• how to calculate the amount of rent and other services to repay

• how to complete the form, and

• how to repay IPSA

Download a copy of the Declaration Form.

Please complete the Declaration Form and email it to info@theipsa.org.uk no later than five calendar days after Polling Day.

All repayments must be received no later than 30 days after Polling Day.

As of 1 April 2023, funding for MPs’ security measures has transferred from IPSA to the Parliamentary Security Department (PSD) at the House of Commons.

For all enquiries and claims regarding security measures for MPs or funding from the central security budget, please contact the Members’ Security Support Services (MSSS):

• Tel: 020 7219 2244

• Email: safe@parliament.uk

"Routine" security and safety costs may continue to be claimed from the accommodation and office costs budget.

For further information on security, please refer to the dissolution guidance published by the House of Commons.

Your staff will continue to receive their salaries as normal during the dissolution period. Please refer to House of Commons guidance on the type of work that can and cannot be carried out during this period.

No changes to staff members’ contractual terms such as pay, hours and place of work may be made from the date the election is called until the end of the winding-up period (if the seat is lost or you have stood down). However, you are permitted to extend a staff member’s fixed-term contract.

More information is available below.

Staff on non-IPSA contracts can be moved to an IPSA contract – and we strongly urge you to do this.

Staff members must, however, be employed on the new contract for at least six months before notice of redundancy is issued to benefit from the IPSA contract redundancy provisions (in other words, double statutory redundancy).

Changes you can make to a staff member’s contract during dissolution

Staff contracts state that no changes may be made to their terms and conditions of employment from the date a motion is passed confirming an election until the expiry of the winding-up period, unless such a change is required, or required to be considered, by statute.

Therefore, no contractual changes will be permitted during the dissolution period and, for standing down and non-returned MPs, for the four months after the election. This includes increases and decreases of a staff member’s salary.

MPs who are returned after the election are permitted to make contractual changes as normal at that stage.

Any changes that were requested before the election was called will be actioned as normal.

If you have a staff member on a fixed-term contract that is due to end, you are permitted to extend this as normal on IPSA Online if required. You are also permitted to make a staff member permanent if required.  

Please remember that if you lose your seat or stand down, all staff members will be made redundant.

Staff members working away from their normal place of work during dissolution

If your staff member is required to work away from their normal place of work during the dissolution period, because this is a temporary arrangement rather than a contractual agreement you are not permitted to change the staff members’ salary to reflect this.

The staff member is, however, eligible to claim for travel and hotel costs if they are required to work away from their normal place of work (for example if they are Westminster-based and are required to work in the constituency).

If your staff member is required to work from home during the dissolution period because this is a temporary arrangement rather than a contractual agreement IPSA will not pay the working-from-home allowance. Staff may, however, be able to claim home working costs directly from HMRC.

For more information, visit the HMRC website.

If your staff members take part in campaigning

IPSA-funded staff are unable to undertake any campaigning activities during working hours. There are several options if they do want to help the campaign. They could:

• take paid leave

• take unpaid leave

• use accrued Time Off In Lieu (TOIL)

• campaign outside their normal working hours

We advise you to record any TOIL (for example, in an Excel spreadsheet) or any other leave a staff member takes in case this is later queried by IPSA.

Offices are advised to keep a record until the end of the winding-up period if the MP loses their seat or stands down as IPSA cannot guarantee payment if the information is lost.

Please be reminded that all employment contracts state that TOIL should be used within three months of accruing it.

For more information, please visit Booking annual leave.

Unpaid leave can be communicated to Payroll in one of two ways:

• the staff member can submit an absence request using the "absences" tab under the "your employment" tab on IPSA Online, which will go to the proxy or MP for approval, or

• the MP or proxy can record the absence using ‘absence entry’ under the ‘time and expenses’ tab on IPSA Online

For step-by-step guidance on the process, visit Recording sickness and unpaid leave.

Please tell IPSA by the 15th of the month (our normal payroll cut-off) if any of your staff will take unpaid leave so IPSA can adjust their pay.

Overtime and reward and recognition payments

Your staff are permitted to submit overtime claims during the dissolution period and, if you stand down or lose your seat, during the winding-up period. Please bear in mind that overtime may only be paid for parliamentary work, not for campaigning.

IPSA will accept reward and recognition payments for staff on the day an election is called or during the dissolution period. This is because we recognise that MPs may have planned to make these payments before the election was called. If you stand down or lose your seat no reward and recognition payments will be accepted during the winding-up period.

Making staff members’ jobs redundant

You are permitted to make a staff member’s job redundant during the dissolution period, especially if you plan to stand down at the General Election.

This cost will come from the contingency budget if you plan to stand down and the staffing budget if you decide to stand.

For more information, visit Making your staff members’ jobs redundant.

New starters

IPSA will accept new starter forms for contracts starting before Polling Day throughout the dissolution period.

However, if you lose your seat, all staff members’ jobs will become redundant, and the new starter will not be entitled to redundancy pay.

Bought-in services

The normal rules apply concerning bought-in services costs.

Payments where staffing services are provided by companies, self-employed individuals, and others not on the MP’s payroll, can be funded from either the office costs budget or the staffing budget.

For more information, visit our Evidence requirements.

Bought-in services must not be used for political campaigning purposes and MPs should assure themselves that certain services are necessary for their parliamentary duties during the dissolution period (for example, services to draft press releases and media and communications support in writing to constituents could be seen as giving MPs a campaigning advantage, which is not permitted under the Scheme).

Please explain why costs of this nature were required during the dissolution period when submitting them on IPSA Online.

You will continue to receive your salary up to and including Polling Day.

This will include any London Area Living Payment (LALP) or Additional LALP (for outer London MPs).

If you chair a select committee or you are a member of the Panel of Chairs, your additional salary for these activities will stop on the date of dissolution.

You can claim for rental accommodation, hotel accommodation or associated costs in accordance with the normal rules of the Scheme during dissolution.

Claims for hotel accommodation must be for parliamentary purposes only, and not to facilitate campaigning or other activity.

During dissolution, you can continue to claim the costs of travel if it is necessary for your parliamentary work.

You can also claim the costs of travel for your dependants and for your spouse or partner.

Travel for campaigning or other activities is not claimable.

Your staff can also claim as normal for the costs of travel related to your parliamentary functions.

Staff who normally work in Westminster and need to work in the constituency during dissolution may also claim for travel between Westminster and the constituency office.

They may also claim for journeys between their home and the constituency office.

If they need to stay overnight in the constituency, they may claim for hotels and other subsistence and for journeys to the constituency office.

Whether staff travel time is included in their contractual hours worked is at your discretion as the employer. However, if you did have any queries on this, please don’t hesitate to contact the Members’ HR team.

You cannot claim for costs for travel by you, your family members or your staff which is for campaigning or party-political reasons.

The Electoral Commission provides advice and guidance for election candidates and also monitors candidates’ compliance with the financial rules.

Following the announcement of a general election, the Electoral Commission will make available comprehensive guidance for candidates and agents, covering the entire process of standing for election, including the rules about candidates’ election expenses and donations, which will all be available to download on the Commission’s website.

IPSA and the Electoral Commission have provided joint guidance on distinguishing between communicating with your constituents as part of your parliamentary duties, and campaigning.

How to communicate with your constituents

It is important to remember that IPSA funding cannot be used to support campaigning, either on your behalf if you are standing as a candidate at the election, to promote your party or other candidates, or against a party or other candidates.

When deciding whether you can claim from IPSA for any costs associated with communicating with your constituents, you should think about whether your communication material meets the following tests:

• The communication must be for a parliamentary purpose. For instance, you can distribute a leaflet to your constituents to inform them of upcoming surgeries or to update them on any casework you have been carrying out, provided the material is single-issue.

• The communication must not be party-political. You will not be allowed to claim from IPSA for costs associated with communication material that campaigns for or against a political party.

• The communication must not be self-promotional or campaigning in nature. For instance, you should not promote your achievements as an MP or the government policies you supported.

You must not include additional campaigning or other non-allowable material in any IPSA-funded postage or distribution.

If you want to share information with constituents about voter ID and voter registration, you can use existing resources from the Electoral Commission. You cannot use IPSA funds to distribute these messages if they are shared in support of your campaign.

These guardrails are non-exhaustive and are there to provide you with the freedom to develop appropriate content that helps you carry out your parliamentary duties while ensuring public funds are not used for party political campaigning.

Please make sure you follow the above criteria when developing and distributing content.

If you have any questions about whether your content complies with IPSA’s rules, please contact your account manager.

Election campaigning

If you want to communicate with your constituents to promote your candidacy or your party, or to campaign against a candidate or a party, then this is election material. You cannot claim for costs associated with the production or distribution of such material from IPSA.

You will need to be aware of and comply with political finance and electoral law. The Electoral Commission produces guidance for candidates and agents in Great Britain and Northern Ireland which includes information on campaigning, candidate spending and donations.

If Parliament has not been dissolved by 18 July, a regulated period for candidates will begin: the long campaign. The long campaign will end on the day of the dissolution of Parliament. A second regulated period – the short campaign – begins the day after the dissolution of Parliament.

During both the long and short campaigns, you are required to record your spending on campaigning, including election material sent to voters, and report it after the election. Separate spending limits will apply during the long and short campaigns.

As parliamentarians, you must include an imprint on all digital election material you publish. There are also requirements for imprints on print election material.

The Electoral Commission encourages you to include imprints on all print election material you publish in the run-up to an election, both for transparency and to ensure you can use material throughout the election campaign.

For further information, please see the Electoral Commission’s guidance on digital imprints and print imprints.