Card payments

Payment cards can be used to pay for business costs allowed under the Scheme.

For MPs, each transaction is limited to £3,000 with a monthly limit of £5,000.

For proxies, each transaction is limited to £1,500 with a monthly limit of £2,500.

Read our Payment Card Policy.

We’ll make payments directly to the payment card supplier every month.

We will also regularly provide a list of expenditure you’ve incurred on IPSA Online. You must account for this within 30 days, together with supporting evidence.

Not reconciling your card on time or misusing it, can lead to the card being suspended for seven days or longer if the expenditure remains outstanding.

For more information, visit our guide to Payment card reconciliation using IPSA Online.

IPSA can provide an MP’s expenses proxy with a payment card.

This is in the proxy’s name but the MP remains accountable for all spending on the Proxy’s payment card in addition to their own.

Please read the following information fully before applying.

Consider whether a proxy payment card is appropriate

Proxies who want to have a payment card should:

• be proficient in using the IPSA Online system

• have participated in training via our Induction Programme

• have the skills to ensure they and the MP meet the relevant deadlines at all times

• be competent in handling finances and managing budgets

All spending on a proxy’s payment card is published, in the same way that we publish everything an MP spends. This includes rejected claims submitted to IPSA despite not being allowed under the Scheme.

All transactions on the payment card are subject to quarterly compliance reviews to identify inappropriate spending or persistent failures in complying with the process. Failure to comply may result in the card being removed and your MP being required to repay IPSA.

If you make an error with your card, IPSA will inform your MP.

Having a proxy payment card comes with significant responsibility and may not be suitable for everyone.

If having a proxy payment card does not feel right, you may benefit from having more time to become embedded in your role or attending further training.

Training

Before we can issue a payment card proxies must attend a mandatory training session.

The training is designed to support you with the practicalities of using the payment card and the IPSA Online system and ensure you are aware of the responsibilities of holding the card.

The training is not a tick-box exercise. It is comprehensive and will take up to two hours.

You must be fully present in the training, ask questions where there are any, and feel confident leaving it that you know what you are responsible for.

Each training session can accommodate up to 50 attendees. We have scheduled multiple sessions to meet customer requirements.

How to apply

Proxies can apply for a proxy payment card by completing an indemnity form.

The application must be approved by their MP. The form can be signed electronically, then it will be sent automatically to your MP.

Proxies must also attend the mandatory training session before a payment card is issued. You can book this directly via the application form or by visiting the IPSA Induction booking page.

Because there is a high demand for proxy payment cards, please book only one training session for each individual. This will ensure maximum availability for others.

IPSA will order cards from Barclaycard (our supplier) after we receive a completed application form approved by the MP, and when we have confirmation the training session has been attended.

We provide MPs and their expenses proxies with a payment card to support them in funding costs relating to their parliamentary functions.

The payment card policy provides guidance about using payment cards and supports the Scheme of MPs’ Business and Staffing Costs.

The terms and conditions of the payment card policy must be met to retain the use of your payment card.

Read the full payment card policy.

The requirements of the policy are detailed in the following sections.

MPs will be provided with a single payment card in their name for the duration of their time in office.

For MPs, the standard credit limit is £5,000, with any single transaction limited to £3,000.

MPs can ask us to increase these if necessary.

For expenses proxies, the standard credit limit is £2,500, with any single transaction limited to £1,500.

The cardholder can ask us to increase these temporarily, if necessary.

Any requests for changes to the payment card, such as card limits, PIN reminders, and updates to contact details, must be made in writing to us by the cardholder themselves. MPs can also request changes to their proxy's card if needed.

MPs can assign an expenses proxy to reconcile their payment card expenditure on their behalf.

Their expenses proxy can also apply for a payment card with the MP's permission.

The card must only be used to pay for costs allowed under the Scheme.

The card must not be used for personal expenditure or for costs that are not allowed under the Scheme.

If the cardholder uses the payment card for personal expenditure or expenditure outside the Scheme, the cardholder must mark the transaction as "Not claimed, to be repaid" and repay the money owed immediately.

If the money is not received by IPSA within 30 days, the amount owed will be deducted from the MP’s salary. Frequent instances of monies owed relating to the payment card are considered misuse and may result in withdrawal of the card/s

Expenditure must be fully accounted for promptly, by submitting evidence and making any repayments by the deadline (the eighth of the month after the transactions are uploaded for reconciliation).

The cardholder must not owe us any money for payment card spending. If an MP’s office owes a payment card debt, the payment card may be suspended until the debt has been fully recovered or until a repayment plan via salary deductions has been agreed upon with the MP.

It is important to be aware that the MP is responsible for any spending or monies owed related to their proxy's payment card.

The card must be kept safe and secure, and any potential fraud reported to Barclaycard immediately at 0800 008 008.

MPs must sign an indemnity form agreeing to the conditions of use.

You can find this on the final page of the policy along with details required by the supplier to order your card.

If you are a proxy applying for a payment card, please complete this indemnity form online.

Please ensure when completing the personal details section of the form, you type this into the form instead of handwriting this information.  

An expenses proxy (A or B) must be registered with IPSA, have a contract of employment with the MP and be paid via the IPSA payroll and the MP must authorise the proxy’s application for a payment card through the online proxy indemnity form.

If the cardholder is a proxy, they must attend the Payment Card Policy webinar before applying for a payment card.

It is the MP’s responsibility that cardholders in their office meet these conditions.

The MP will be liable for any money owed to IPSA originating from payment card use by cardholders in their office.

We will provide, on a monthly basis, through IPSA Online, a list of the expenditure MPs and their proxies have incurred on their payment cards.

MPs and proxies are required to account for that expenditure within 30 days of notification of the transactions, and to provide supporting evidence.

The deadline is always the eighth of the month unless otherwise stated (changes to the deadline will be communicated through the fortnightly bulletin).

Lines must be submitted to us and approved by our Validation team by the eighth of the month.

You should start your payment card reconciliation as soon as you receive the alert that your lines are available to reconcile. The earlier you begin reconciliation, the lower the risk of having your card suspended as per the Payment Card Policy.

Your reconciliation’s approval can be delayed if our Validation team have any questions about your claim, or if you don’t attach all the required information and evidence.

You will minimise the risk of card suspension if you begin reconciliation early in the month.

An MP or designated expenses proxy must fully account for the expenditure by the eighth of the following month.

The office must fully reconcile the transactions, by submitting valid evidence and repaying any money owed, and the submitted reconciliation must be approved by our Validation team by the eighth of the month.

It is good practice for MPs to check whether owe us any other repayments.

Approximately one week before the deadline, the IPSA Online system will remind any MP or proxy with outstanding payment card lines if they have not yet reconciled their payment card transactions and need to do so.

If an MP or proxy does not reconcile their payment card by submitting valid evidence or does not make repayments of money owed from payment card spending within 30 days, their card will be suspended for seven days or until the conditions are met, whichever is longer.

We reserve the right to suspend both the MP's and the proxy's cards if one card has not completed the Validation process.

The seven-day suspension is designed to encourage prompt and full reconciliation and repayment of money owed within the deadlines and to create efficiency in the card suspension process.

On the first working day after the deadline, we will suspend for seven days:

• payment cards with transactions which have not been fully reconciled and approved by our Validation team by the deadline, and

• payment cards belonging to cardholders that owe money for payment card spending which has not been repaid within 30 days of the cardholder being notified

We will email MPs and their proxies to inform them their card will be suspended for seven days, and that they must account for the expenditure and make any repayments to us within that week.

After seven days, we will lift the payment card suspension for MPs and proxies that have fully accounted for the expenditure and made any necessary repayments.

Cards will be suspended for a minimum of seven days, even if reconciliation or repayments happen sooner.

If after seven days the MP or proxy has not fully accounted for their payment card expenditure, we will seek repayment of the cost of any unaccounted-for expenditure by raising a credit note on IPSA Online.

The payment card lines will be marked as "costs not reconciled", and the payment card suspension will be lifted when the money owed has been fully recovered.

We publish lines considered "costs not reconciled" and repayments made against them. If the costs are allowable, the MP or proxy may submit a claim for reimbursement of the costs in the normal way within 90 days of the expenditure being incurred.

We carry out regular reviews of compliance with the Payment Card Policy and the conditions specified.

Any breach of the conditions is classed as misuse.

Serious or persistent breaches of the conditions will result in the payment card being suspended for up to six months or withdrawn permanently.

Serious or persistent breaches include:

• regular or frequent failure to reconcile the payment card, by submitting valid evidence, within the specified deadlines

• regular or frequent use of the payment card for costs not claimed from IPSA budgets (costs marked as "not claimed, to be repaid")

• regular or frequent use of the payment card for personal or other non-parliamentary use

• regular or frequent failure to make repayments of money owed from payment card spending within 30 days

• improper use of MP or proxy card for items not allowed under the Scheme while either card is suspended

In these circumstances, we will warn the cardholder that continued breaches will result in a suspension or withdrawal of the payment card.

If the conditions continue to be breached, the card will be suspended or withdrawn.

There will be times when you do not wish to claim a cost on your payment card.

You may, for example, have exceeded the nightly hotel limit or standard anytime train fare, or you may have run out of the available budget to claim that line.

In these circumstances, you must mark the cost as “not claimed, to be repaid” when reconciling.

By marking lines as not claimed, you are committing to repay the value of that line within 30 days. We will put "not claimed, to be repaid" lines into salary deductions where we have not received a repayment within 30 days unless you opt out. Please let your account manager know if you would prefer to repay directly.

If you choose to repay these lines directly, you must complete a repayment form quoting the submitted reconciliation reference and send it to us at info@theipsa.org.uk.

Our Finance team will then allocate the repayment so your budgets reflect your expenditure accurately.

Where an MP or proxy has marked a line as “not claimed, to be repaid”, we will not publish that expenditure or the repayment against it.

It is important to note that where a proxy has a payment card, the MP remains liable for any spending or any monies owed related to that card.

We will pursue the MP for repayment, not the proxy.

Please do not mark refunds as "not claimed, to be repaid". Refunds should be reconciled in the same way the original cost was.

Persistent marking lines as “not claimed, to be repaid”, along with failure to agree a repayment plan with IPSA within 30 days of marking the line as such, may be defined as a misuse of the card, which could mean suspending your card access in line with our payment card policy.

Read our Payment Card Policy for further information.

If you notice a fraudulent transaction on the Barclaycard statement or on IPSA Online when you come to reconcile the card, you must report this immediately by calling the Barclaycard customer services team on 0800 008 008 to put a block on the card.

You must also report this to us via email at info@theipsa.org.uk outlining the transaction details.

Once the fraudulent transaction(s) have been reported to Barclaycard, you will need to complete the Barclaycard Disclaimer Form.

This must be returned to Barclaycard within 28 days.

This deadline is important because if the form is not returned within 28 days, Barclaycard will assume the transaction in question is legitimate and add it back to the account as a genuine cost.

Please send the disclaimer form to noreplyfrauddisclaimersbarclaycard@barclayscorp.com.

Download the Disclaimer Form.

If you have misplaced your card or your card has been stolen, you must report this immediately to the Barclaycard customer services team by phoning 0800 008 008.

Alternatively, you can contact us so we can ask the payment card provider to block the card and reissue it.

You must report fraudulent transactions in the same way as any unrecognised transactions.

To update your details (including your name, address, and mobile number), please contact us via email at info@theipsa.org.uk so we can update our records and the Barclaycard portal.

The email should come from your PDS address so we can verify your identity.

Your registered address is where bank statements and other correspondences are sent.

The standard monthly credit limit for MPs is £5,000, and the single transaction is £3,000.

The standard monthly credit limit for proxies is £2,500, and the single transaction is £1,500.

If you need this increased, the cardholder must request this via email to info@theipsa.org.uk confirming the period and the amount the limits need to be increased to.

The email should come from your PDS address so we can verify your identity.

In line with EU requirements, customers need to authorise online payments by using a two-factor authentication process.

This requirement has been in place since 2019, and you may have encountered this more and more since 2021 as the trigger limit was lowered from €500 to €30.

This requirement helps prevent fraud on the card and adherence to EU regulations.

As part of the two-factor authentication process when submitting a payment online you will need to confirm your identity.

Once you are ready to pay, enter and confirm your card details as normal. Once complete, a verification screen will ask you to confirm your identity using one of three options:

Use the PINsentry card reader

If you have a Barclays PINsentry card reader, you can use it to generate a code that confirms it is you.

You’ll need to have the card reader, payment card and PIN ready when asked to verify it's really you making the payment.

Receive a code by text

Barclaycard will send a code to your mobile for you to enter on the payment screen to confirm your identity.

Your mobile number must be registered with Barclaycard in order to authenticate via text.

If you would like us to register your number with Barclaycard, the cardholder must request this via email at info@theipsa.org.uk.

Use the Barclaycard for Business app

If you don’t already have the app, you can download it from your app store.

Your mobile number must be registered with Barclaycard in order to be able to use the app.

If you would like us to update this information with Barclaycard, the cardholder must request this via email at info@theipsa.org.uk.

It can take up to 10 days after you register for the app for Mobile PINsentry to appear in it.

Please be aware three incorrect authentication attempts will lock the card for online purchases.

To unlock the card the main cardholder will need to call Barclaycard on 0800 008 008 or flag with us by contacting your Account Manager.

You can also unlock the card at any ATM, using the option "PIN services".

You can send an email marked for their attention to info@theipsa.org.uk, call our inbound phone line Monday to Friday between 10am and 4.30pm.

The card will unlock itself after 24 hours, so you can try again the next day without taking any action.

If you've never been prompted to authenticate an online purchase please get in touch.

You may request a new PINsentry card reader if yours is broken, lost or you never received one.

To order a new PINsentry card reader, contact the Barclaycard team on 0800 008 008 or by contacting us.

Please note the delivery window for replacement card readers or PIN reminders is between seven and 10 working days.

If your payment card is due to expire, Barclaycard will arrange for a new card to be sent to your registered address two weeks prior to the date of expiry.

If you haven’t received this, please contact us and we will arrange for a replacement card to be sent.

If your payment card has been suspended for not reconciling, please ensure you complete the full reconciliation process before requesting that the card is reinstated.

For details on how to complete the reconciliation process, visit Payment card reconciliation.

You can contact your Account Manager for further guidance or assistance by emailing info@theipsa.org.uk, calling our inbound phone line Monday to Friday between 10am and 4.30pm, or booking a call.

The Barclaycard Online Account Guide includes step-by-step instructions on how to use some of the key features of the online account that cardholders have access to, to help you manage your expenditure.

Similar to a personal online credit card account, this online account will enable you to:

• view your statements

• view your balances in real time

• access transaction data for up to the past 36 months

• run reports on your spending

To login, visit Barclaycard's online servicing.

The Barclaycard Online Servicing Troubleshooting guide outlines the steps you need to consider if you experience any problems accessing your Barclaycard Online Services.

If you need further assistance, contact Barclaycard on 0800 008 008.

Please note you must be the cardholder in order for Barclaycard to assist you over the phone.

You can also use the Barclaycard for Business mobile application.

You can use the app at any time to:

• view your PIN

• retrieve your username

• resolve sign-in issues

• view your balance and contact details

• monitor transactions

Download the Barclaycard for Business guidance.

Join us for an overview of payment cards with an Account Manager who will take you through our Payment Card Policy and provide guidance and support on making the most of your payment card.

We will cover our payment policy, provide tips for managing your payment card, and deliver helpful guidance to ensure you reconcile successfully ahead of our monthly payment card deadline.

By the end of the workshop, you will be clear on what is required of payment card holders, and what help you can expect from us.

The webinar lasts between 30 and 45 minutes and there will be opportunities to ask questions throughout.

Webinars are currently suspended while we deliver our induction modules. Induction Module 2 covers payment cards and is available on our Training & Development page.