Election losses cost 2,000 people their jobs, says Westminster watchdog
The taxpayer spent £52.8 million on the transition between parliaments, including around £13 million on redundancy payments.
More than 2,000 people lost their jobs after an “almost unprecedented” turnover of MPs at the last election, a parliamentary watchdog has said.
The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) revealed on Wednesday that 2,023 people who worked for MPs were also made redundant on July 5 when their bosses were either voted out or stood down.
That is more than four times the number who lost their jobs at the 2019 election, with their redundancy payments accounting for around a quarter of the £52.8 million Ipsa spent managing the transition from one parliament to the next.
The cost of the transition was considerably higher than in previous years, partly due to the fact 350 MPs lost their seats or stood down, and partly due to Ipsa’s decision to increase the time MPs had for winding up their offices from two months to four.
Ipsa’s chair Richard Lloyd said: “This was a once-in-a-generation change of parliament.
“An MP’s office is like a small business. They are the employer, and any MP not returned in the 2024 general election had until November 4 to close down their office entirely.”
He added: “Ipsa is proud of its role in supporting a representative Parliament, where people without private finances shouldn’t be prevented from becoming an MP – or working for one.”
Established in the wake of the 2009 expenses scandal, Ipsa oversees both MPs’ pay and expenses, including the salaries of the constituency caseworkers, parliamentary assistants and other staff that work for them.
After the 2024 election, Ipsa spent an average of £35,200 per MP on redundancy payments – up from an average of £19,900 at the 2019 election.
The watchdog also spent an average of £17,300 per MP in winding-up payments – the allowance given to all departing MPs as compensation for the four months of work required to close down their offices.
On top of that, MPs who stood for re-election but lost also receive a “loss of office payment” of double the statutory redundancy entitlement, provided they have been in parliament for at least two years leading up to the election.
