Ministers and office-holders in the Commons: including Parliamentary salary (£59,095 for 1.4.2005 to 31.3.2006)

Ministers and office-holders in the Lords

• General funding to assist an opposition party in carrying out its parliamentary business
  The amount payable to qualifying parties is calculated on (a) a sum for every seat won at the last Election, plus (b) a sum for every 200 votes gained by the party. The formula for 2003-2004 was £12,518 per seat + £25 for every 200 vote.
• Funding for the opposition parties’ travel and associated expenses
  The total amount payable under this component of the scheme for 2005/06 is £137,506  apportioned between each of the Opposition parties in the same proportion as the amount given to each of them under the general funding scheme.
• Funding for the running costs of the Leader of the Opposition’s office
  £583,169 is available for the running costs of the Leader of the Opposition's Office for the financial year commencing on 1 April 2005.

In October 2000 the Senior Salaries Review Body were asked to review the scheme and their 2001 report Review of Parliamentary Pensions Scheme [Cm 4996] made some recommendations which were debated by the House on 5 July 2001  [HC Deb Vol 371 c 421-77].

A brief history of parliamentary pensions is given in an Information Office Factsheet - Members' Pay, Pensions and Allowances.
The recent changes are detailed in Library Research Paper 01/86:Parliamentary Pay, Allowances and Pensions: the Reviews of 2001

• Supplementary London Allowance of £2,613 pa
  Payable to Members for Inner London seats, and certain others, to reflect higher costs in London. It is not paid to Ministers with an official residence in London
• Additional Costs Allowance of £21,634 pa
  Reimburses Members with constituencies outside inner London for expenses incurred in staying overnight away from home whilst performing parliamentary duties.
• Motor Mileage Allowance of 40 pence per mile for the first 10,000 miles then 25 pence per additional mile
  Reimburses Members for the cost of travel by car or motorbike between Westminster and Members’ constituencies and their homes and for other approved journeys on parliamentary business.
• Motorcycle Allowance of 24 pence per mile and Bicycle Allowance of 20 pence per mile.
  This is a relatively new allowance, which first took effect from 1 April 1998; it applies to journeys for which Members can currently claim the motor mileage allowance or reimbursement of fares.
• Temporary Secretarial Allowance (TSA)
  Available to meet the extra cost of obtaining temporary secretarial/research assistance while a salaried permanent secretary/RA is absent from work through illness or pregnancy. The maximum entitlement will be based on the amount of the absent employee's salary for the following periods:
  Sickness - 12 months salary (available to be used over a period of 4 years)
  Maternity - 24 weeks salary (available for each maternity absence).
• Stationery, Telephone and Postage
  Members of Parliament are currently entitled to free stationery, free inland telephone calls from Parliament and free postal services from Parliament.
• Reimbursement of costs due to recall during a recess.
  This allowance was introduced in 1994 to cover the necessary expenses of Members returning to Westminster in the event of a recall of Parliament during a recess. Members can reclaim any “extra costs” they may incur due to a parliamentary recall.
• Winding Up Allowance equivalent in value to one third of sum of Staffing allowance and Incidental Expenses Provision
  Available to meet the cost of completing outstanding parliamentary and constituency business undertaken by or on behalf of a former Member in the event of their death, defeat or retirement.
• Members' Resettlement Grant.
  A person who is a Member immediately before the dissolution of Parliament and does not stand for re-election or is defeated may claim a Resettlement Grant to assist with the costs of ‘adjusting to non-parliamentary life’. The grant is calculated as a proportion of final salary; the proportion payable depends both on age and length of service. Only whole years of service are counted, and any period of service which was taken account of in the payment of a previous Resettlement Grant is not counted.
• Ministers Severance Payments.
  Generally, 3 months of annual ministerial salary is payable when a minister ceases to hold office. Full details are set out in section 4 of the Ministerial and other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991 [PGA 1991 chapter 5], as amended.
• Former Prime Ministers’ Public Duties Allowance of £77,534.
  The ‘PDA’ is a financial allowance, paid from the Cabinet Office vote, to help former Prime Ministers to meet the continuing additional office costs which they are liable to incur because of their special position in public life.  Formerly linked to the office costs allowance, it  is now set at the same level as the maximum entitlement for support and secretarial staff at  £84,061 and is payable in respect of office and secretarial expenses incurred in connection with former Prime Ministers’ public duties. The allowance is not payable to a former Prime Minister occupying the position of Leader of the Opposition and therefore in receipt of "Short money".

• The maximum entitlement to staffing allowance per Member is £84,081.
  This is designed to pay for between two and three full-time equivalent staff. Up to 10 per cent of the allowance can be used to fund constituency offices.
• Certain IT equipment for Members' offices is also centrally provided and maintained.
  Each Member is entitled to a standard package of 3 PCs, 1 laptop computer, 2 combined printers/scanners/copiers/answer machines (or dedicated printers) and associated software. This includes provision for constituency offices. In addition, an  Incidental Expenses Provision of £20,000
  is available for other expenses involved in running an office (eg, office rents and rates).
• Central funding is also available for such items as training of Members and their staff, appropriate insurance provision, exceptional expenses incurred by MPs who have constituencies with particular problems, additional payments in respect of safety precautions and reimbursing disabled Members for additional expenses through a new General Services Budget. 

Further details of the new system are contained in House of Commons Library Research Paper 01/88: 'Members' office costs - the new system' , available in PDF Format.