Year-end 2022-23 – Monies owed

Published: 16 March 2023

We are now nearing the end of the 2022-23 financial year.

Please ensure you check that your IPSA work is up-to-date and that budget positions are as you’d expect.

Carrying out some checks before 31 March will help to reduce the risk of overspending.

We will be publishing guidance that focuses on four key areas to consider during the year-end period.

We previously outlined some advice on good budget management. Our second topic is how to manage any monies owed to IPSA.

Why keeping on top of monies owed is important

There are many reasons why making repayments for any monies owed as soon as possible is important.

These include:

  • ensuring your budget and spend data are up-to-date

  • avoiding payment card suspensions

  • making sure your publication data is accurate

Please ensure any money owed is repaid to IPSA in line with year-end deadlines.

Using the Task Manager in IPSA Online

Aside from Not Claimed, to be repaid payment card lines, any money that is owed to IPSA will be communicated via a Choose Repayment Method task sent to your Task Manager.

These tasks will be accompanied by an email explaining the context of the amount owed for repayment.

If you are an MP with a Business Costs Proxy B, any tasks relating to monies owed will go to your proxy’s Task Manager.

Choose Repayment Method tasks offer you four options:

  • "Reject" – return the task to IPSA with a comment if you do not think that this money is owed for repayment

  • three repayment options

Using the Repayment Due report in IPSA Online

On your IPSA Online dashboard, the MPD Repayments Due report shows all the amounts currently owed to IPSA.

This includes lines reconciled using the Not claimed, to be repaid expense type on the payment card.

Please be aware that the Repayments Due report will only be updated once repayment has been allocated by our Finance team.

Repayment options

There are three repayment options when repaying money owed to IPSA.

Direct Repayment

Repay the money owed by BACS transfer, making sure to complete a Repayment Form and send this via email to info@theipsa.org.uk so the money is allocated correctly. Offsetting Against Future Claims

Offset the money owed against future claims made by the MP.

For example, if you owed £50 to IPSA, selected to offset this, and then claimed £100, the MP would be reimbursed £50 and the other £50 would be used to repay the debt. Salary Deductions

The MP can choose to have the money owed deducted from their salary over several months.

This is normally selected for higher-value amounts owed to IPSA.

Payment Card – not claimed lines

Payment cards must only be used for costs relating to the MP’s parliamentary work.

If a payment card transaction relates to something which is not claimable via IPSA you will need to mark the line as Not claimed, to be repaid.

Marking a line as Not claimed, to be repaid is an explicit recognition that you consider this amount to be due for repayment to IPSA.

We expect you to arrange for repayment of this within 30 days of reconciling the line.

If you want to repay such lines by offsetting or salary deductions, please make such requests via email to your Account Manager at info@theipsa.org.uk.

Post-payment validation checks

Did you know that only 40% of claims are reviewed and validated at the point of submission, whereas 60% of claims are auto-approved?

This is to ensure your claims are paid as quickly as possible and to prevent cash-flow issues.

Claims are reviewed on a risk basis, but checks are also carried out post-payment to identify any duplicate claims or items that have been claimed and that do not fall within the rules of the Scheme.

This is why we will sometimes contact you a couple of months after a claim has been made to ask for further detail or for repayment.

Recovering deposit loans

MPs need to repay any deposit loans received from IPSA in full and ideally within 30 days of the lease agreement coming to an end.

It is the MP’s responsibility to follow up with their landlord or the agents to recover their deposit.

If for any reason you think you will be unable to repay the deposit loan to IPSA within 30 days of the lease agreement ending, please ensure your Account Manager is aware of the circumstances.

Monies owed webinar

For further guidance on understanding monies owed, please register to attend one of our Monies Owed Webinars.