Provisional staffing and office budgets for 2025-2026

IPSA was given permission by the Speaker’s Committee for IPSA (SCIPSA) to announce provisional budgets for staffing and office costs for the next financial year.

These figures are subject to full approval of IPSA’s Main Estimate and budgets in March 2025.

The provisional figures are included in a table below.

Please note the full guidance will only be updated once the figures are final and approved by SCIPSA. To help you plan for the next financial year, we have updated the yearly staff calculator and the automatic pay increase guidance. The yearly staff calculator has also been updated to include the upcoming changes to employers’ National Insurance contributions.

Please note that the contractual changes form that you will need to fill out in some circumstances will not be live until after full approval of IPSA’s Main Estimate and budgets in March 2025. A full Q&A focused on the automatic cost of living increase for staff is available in our guidance.

The Board decided:

• The automatic cost of living increase for MPs’ staff should be 3%, alongside an additional 2% increase to the staffing budget. This means the staffing budget next year is due to rise by 5%.

• Increase the office cost budget by 8.2% for London and 8.8% for non-London offices from 1 April 2025.

FAQs

A full Q&A focused on the automatic cost of living increase for staff is available in our guidance.

Is the pay increase automatic?

IPSA will apply the increase automatically, unless the MP opts out. If an MP opts out, it means they will not award staff a pay uplift from 1 April 2025. We encourage MPs to provide annual pay increases to their staff where appropriate, so that staff are paid fairly and can have an experience similar to those employed across the public sector. The ability to opt-out recognises there are circumstances where awarding a pay increase may not be appropriate. For example, where staff members are on probation or where there is a live disciplinary issue.

How does an MP opt out?

The MP or proxy should email payroll@theipsa.org.uk by 25 March with the names of the staff member(s) they wish to opt out.

Can an MP award less, or more, than a 3% cost of living increase to staff’s pay?

Yes. To do this, the MP or proxy will need to fill out a contractual changes form.

Can an MP choose to award the 3% pay increase, but effective from a later date, not 1 April 2025?

Yes. The MP or proxy will need to fill out a contractual changes form, and state the desired effective start date for the pay increase, which can be any date from 1 April 2025 onwards.

The form will only become available after full approval of IPSA’s Main Estimate by the Speaker’s Committee for IPSA in March 2025.

What happens to the budget if MPs opt out of the pay increase?

If an MP chooses to opt out of the pay increase for some or all their staff, the 5% budget uplift or what remains of it can be used in its entirety on any eligible staffing costs, such as training and development.

How does the National Living Wage affect staff pay?

Salary ranges are updated to make sure they are compliant with National Living Wage requirements. Any staff whose salaries fall below the new National Living Wage from April 2025 will have their salary automatically adjusted to at least this level.

Can we expect pay bands to increase in March?

Yes, we will adjust the pay bands to ensure that all staff can receive a 3% pay increase and still remain within the pay band. We will share these with you after SCIPSA considers our Main Estimate.

Will the reward and recognition cap of £1,000 per staff member stay the same?

Yes, that will remain at £1,000 for the 2025-2026 financial year. The previous cap which limited the amount which could be used on reward and recognition payments to 2% of the staffing budget will not apply.

What can an MP do if they still haven’t found an office, and haven’t used the £6,000 start-up supplement?

If you are a new MP, after the election you received a £6,000 start-up supplement that was added to your office costs budget this financial year, to support you with the expected increased costs of finding an office or moving. If you do not have a constituency office registered on or before 31 January 2025 we will roll up to £6,000 forward into the 2025-26 financial year. If you have already registered an office you do need to ensure you have made full use of your 2024-25 budgets by 31 March 2025 as they cannot be rolled forward. 

When will IPSA announce the remaining budgets?

The Speaker’s Committee for IPSA will consider our Main Estimate, alongside the full budget recommendations, in March. At that point we will be able to announce the final budgets, alongside pay scales.