What was Allowed?
MPs were permitted a budget for staff to deal with the Parliamentary duties that the MP had to perform. This could for example be helping to deal with the vast number of phone calls, letters and emails which come into the office every week. MPs were not paid this money into their own accounts to then distribute: it was paid direct to staff from an independent body.
What I Claimed:
My excellent staff, most of whom are from Northampton, helped me to carry out my role as your representative effectively and my office ran extremely efficiently. I was found to be one of the best responding MPs in the entire country.
In the four full financial years since May 2010 and April 2018 I underspent £240,000.00 from my staffing budget.
Just because you might have a large budget for something does not mean you should max it out, especially when it is not your money!
I had a duty to make sure I kept the cost to the taxpayer as low as possible and I treated taxpayer’s money very carefully.
Here are the numbers in more detail:
Financial Year 2010-11
· Max Staffing Budget: £100,419
· Michael claimed: £54,088.16
· Total amount saved for taxpayer: £46,330.84
2011-12
· Max Staffing Budget: £115,000
· Michael claimed: £83,478.07
· Total amount saved for taxpayer: £31,521.93
2012-13
· Max Staffing Budget: £137,200
· Michael claimed: £100,900.25
· Total amount saved for taxpayer: £36,299.75
2013-14
· Max Staffing Budget: £137,200
· Michael claimed: £111,171.75
· Total amount saved for taxpayer: £26,028.25
2014-15
· Max Staffing Budget: £138,600
· Michael claimed: £121,002
· Total amount saved for the taxpayer: £17,598
2015-16
· Max Staffing Budget: £140,000
· Michael claimed: £120, 698.04
· Total amount saved for the taxpayer: £19,301.96
2016-17
· Max Staffing Budget: £141,400
· Michael claimed: £103,418.89
· Total amount saved for the taxpayer: £37, 981.11
2017-18
· Max Staffing Budget: £150,900
· Michael claimed: £119, 952.37
· Total amount saved for the taxpayer: £30,947.63