MPS claim expenses for adult children

Politicians top up home allowances under rule originally intended for young families

MPS including a minister are boosting their expenses by claiming for adult children “dependent” upon them, The Daily Telegraph discloses today.

Rules introduced in 2017 allow MPS to claim additional second home expenses of up to £5,400 per child.

The rule was originally intended to help MPS with children rent bigger homes but The Telegraph has discovered, following changes to the regulations, several are using the allowance to claim for adult children in their 20s.

Claire Perry, an energy minister who earns £111,148 a year, claimed £9,846 on top of her £22,760 standard allowance by citing her three children aged 17, 19 and 22. Ms Perry said: “All claims are made completely in accordance with the Ipsa rules.”

The age limit when claiming for children is 18, rising to 21 for certain exemptions such as a child in full-time education who requires care. The Telegraph has identified five other MPS who are claiming allowances for adult children. Two last night agreed to return the money. Last night Ipsa was also under fire as it was unable to say who had broken the rules and appeared to rely on MPS’ word.

While the MPS are operating within the rules, Sir Alistair Graham, former chairman of the parliamentary standards committee, said: “One despairs that after 10 years MPS have not learnt the fundamental ethical lessons of the 2009 scandal over expenses.”

Since that scandal, the rules surrounding what MPS can claim for have been overhauled.

Today, this newspaper reveals plans by the regulator, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa), to track MPS by GPS to prevent any fiddling of travel expenses. The rules surrounding second homes were rewritten in the wake of the original expenses scandal. MPS were previously allowed to claim up to £24,000 for the interest payments on their second home mortgages.

The new rules ban this and allow MPS only to claim rent. Initially, the maximum second home rent allowance was just over £17,000 a year and children were considered “dependent” only if they were aged five or under.

But over the years the rules changed after lobbying by MPS who said they were “not supportive enough” of families. The standard allowance went up to more than £22,000. In 2017 the allowance was increased once more from £2,425 to £5,435 per child. That means an MP with three dependent children is entitled to a total allowance of almost £40,000 a year to rent a second home in London.

After analysing the latest data, The Telegraph discovered several MPS claiming for adult children.

In 2017 Jack Lopresti, who lives with his wife, fellow MP Andrea Jenkyns, incorrectly registered to claim up to £10,870 for two dependents. He said that referred to his children from his former marriage, who are over 18.

After being alerted by The Telegraph, Mr Lopresti, a government aide to Stephen Barclay, the Brexit Secretary, said his dependents allowance was an “error” and repaid £202 incorrectly claimed in 2017-18.

Rebecca Pow, a government aide to Amber Rudd, incorrectly claimed £629 in rent in 2017-18 for a dependent and continues to be registered for children, who are all in their twenties. She said she would repay overclaimed money after being contacted by The Telegraph.

Gill Furniss, a Labour MP, has one dependent registered, but her three children are aged between 19 and 34. She claimed £91 in the allowance in 2017-18. She declined to explain why she had claimed that sum.

NEARLY a decade ago, in the wake of the expenses scandal, Parliament declared itself thoroughly cleaned up.

The second home allowance was scrapped. No longer would MPS be able to buy a house in London then claim thousands of pounds back from the taxpayer.

“This system brings MPS’ expenses into line with those in most other areas of life,” Sir Ian Kennedy, the Ipsa chairman declared at the time.

Not quite, as it turned out. In recent years, a series of creeping rule changes have allowed MPS to claw back more and more cash.

Ten years on, some MPS are able to claim nearly double the amount to which they were entitled before the scandal broke.

It comes after a decision was made last year – after lobbying by MPS – to raise substantially the allowance for dependent children. Since then, the number of MPS claiming extra from the taxpayer for renting their London property has risen from 28 to 50.

Today The Daily Telegraph can reveal MPS and ministers are increasingly claiming that adult children over 18 who do not live with them are their dependants and qualify for extra budgets to rent second homes in London as a result. And many of these claims fall within the rules.

Claire Perry, the energy minister, claimed nearly £10,000 in additional housing allowance by saying her three children, two of whom are over 18, were financially dependent upon her. Ms Perry, who earns £111,148 a year, said she had fully complied with Ipsa rules.

Meanwhile Jack Lopresti, a government aide to Stephen Barclay, the Brexit Secretary, is registered for a £10,870 uplift in 2017-18 for two dependants. He said the allowance referred to his children from his former marriage, who are over 18.

Mr Lopresti lives with his wife, the Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns, and the couple receive a £59,560 annual allowance to rent their shared London flat. Since 2017, Ms Jenkyns has also received a £5,435 allowance for a dependant, after the couple had a child together.

After being alerted by The Telegraph he said he removed the allowance and repaid £202 incorrectly claimed in 2017-18.

Mr Lopresti said: “I was mistakenly under the impression that with each new Parliament any dependants would need to be re-registered, although it appears the listing has been carried forward in error.”

Sir Alistair Graham, former chairman of the standards committee, said: “The responsibility is on the individual MP to ensure they are eligible for these payments under the rules.

“The overwhelming consideration should be – is this a proper use of public funds rather than a way of boosting the family income? One despairs that after 10 years so many MPS have not learnt the fundamental ethical lessons of the 2009 scandal over expenses.”

Asked if she was aware Mr Lopresti had incorrectly overclaimed for the dependants, Ms Jenkyns said: “What, a couple of hundred pounds? Of course I wasn’t aware.”

Sir Alistair said: “A couple of hundred quid to many people in this country is a significant sum of money.”

Meanwhile Rebecca Pow, a government aide to Amber Rudd, incorrectly claimed more than £600 in rent. She receives an allowance for a dependant, even though her three children are all in their 20s. Ms Pow said she would repay the overclaimed amount after being contacted by The Telegraph.

Gill Furniss, a shadow business minister, has one dependant registered, even though her three children are aged between 19 and 34.

She claimed £91 in the allowance in 2017-18. The child allowance was initially brought in for children under five but has now crept up so MPS can claim for children up to the age of 18 and in some cases 21.

Before 2009, MPS were able to claim up to £24,000 a year for buying and furnishing a second home in the capital. Then, to public fury, The Telegraph revealed some MPS were “flipping” their designated second homes, allowing them to avoid stamp duty and capital gains tax.

Some were claiming for mortgage interest, and when the properties were sold, making the profit for themselves rather than the taxpayer.

In 2010 the rules were changed. It was decided MPS could claim up to £1,450 a month to rent – not buy – a second home. This would pay for a one-bed flat within a “reasonable” distance of Westminster.

Behind the scenes, however, MPS began to complain. Those with children, it was argued, would be prevented from standing for Parliament.

So it was agreed that those with children up to the age of five – or up to 21 for single parents – qualified for an additional payment of £2,425 per child.

But MPS were still unhappy, and the rules were changed again. It was decided over 16s in full time education would qualify. MPS claiming to be the sole carer of a “child between 18 and 21” would also be entitled to the extra money.

Five years later, in 2016, the system came under renewed scrutiny.

Simon Danczuk, the former Labour MP for Rochdale, was found to be claiming extra accommodation expenses for two of his children even though they were “at no point” living with him. Eventually, he was forced to pay back £11,000.

In a statement, the MP said he had acted on what he “believed at the time” to be allowed and hoped Ipsa would review the rules. Apparently, his fellow MPS agreed. Within two months of the Danczuk ruling, they began privately to demand changes. “MPS have suggested that Ipsa is not supportive enough of MPS’ families,” one Ipsa document from the time states.

The lobbying was intense. Feedback was received “through a number of forums”, according to documents, from individual written responses to private meetings with MPS or groups of MPS.

Eventually the watchdog decided the politicians were in the right. Quietly, in time for the 2017-18 financial year, it was decided MPS would no longer have to prove their children “routinely” stayed over while the MP was on parliamentary business. This was deemed too difficult to enforce, and an invasion of MPS’ well-guarded privacy.

“We do not consider it appropriate to intrude on those personal circumstances,” one internal Ipsa memo stated.

Another change was made. The allowance per child was more than doubled, from £2,425 to £5,435, to help MPS afford homes in “the areas of London that most MPS choose to live in”.

‘One despairs that so many MPS have not learnt the ethical lessons of the scandal over expenses’