Some 100 MPs have put personal costs on their Parliamentary credit card, an investigation has found.
The number is all those who have paid for non-eligible expenses on the taxpayer-funded payment card three or more times since 2010.
Fourteen MPs claimed so much that personal costs made up more than 15% of their card transactions.
Parliament’s expenses watchdog said the money was repaid and in many cases had a good explanation – but warned “the few cases of repeated misuse by MPs were not addressed promptly”.
It added MPs who used the card for personal costs still benefited, even when they paid the money back, because they were effectively given interest-free credit.
(Image: REUTERS)
The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) concluded: “There is little misuse of the payment cards by MPs.
“Charges marked as ‘not claimed’ amount to only 1.25% of the value of overall transactions; and less than half of this could be considered expenditure on personal costs.
“However, the few cases of repeated misuse by MPs were not addressed promptly.
“As a result, a personal benefit may have been given to the few MPs who used the card for personal costs, in the form of an interest-free period before the costs were recovered.”
Expenses rules for MPs ban them from using their IPSA-issued payment card – which is akin to a credit card and has a £4,000 monthly credit limit – for personal costs.
There are some scenarios that are “reasonable”, IPSA says – for example, paying for a hotel bill that includes both personal and business costs then splitting it later.
However the IPSA review, published earlier this month, says the policy for dealing with misuse “has been implemented less effectively” than it could have been.
Five MPs have been contacted regarding repeated misuse of the card but no payment cards have been permanently withdrawn.
The report recommended: “IPSA should put processes are in place to enforce its policy effectively so that cards are withdrawn when repeated misuse is identified.”
