Scandal-Hit MPs in Line for £500,000 Bounty if They Hold Out for Defeat at General Election 

MPs who have been suspended from their parties amid misconduct allegations and convictions can hold out for tens of thousands of pounds each in taxpayer cash if they stay in Parliament until the next General Election.

Members of Parliament are entitled to a “Winding Up Payment” which goes directly to them upon leaving office – equivalent to nearly £10,000 each. They only get it if they lose their seat at a general election, or if they stand down at a snap general election. This is separate to cash paid to staffers as they wind up the MP’s office after defeat.

MPs are also entitled to a separate Loss of Office payment if they lose their seat at a general election – amounting to double the national statutory redundancy entitlement for ordinary workers. 

The maximum statutory redundancy pay ordinary Brits can get is £19,290 – suggesting some MPs would be entitled to up to £38,580 if they have served for 20 years or more. Up to £30,000 of redundancy pay is tax free. 

Suspended Labour MPs Nicholas Brown and Jeremy Corbyn are likely to be entitled to the full amount, having served for more than 20 years – but only if they are defeated at the next General Election. There are strong rumours that ousted Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is planning to stand as an independent. 

Hackney MP Diane Abbott – suspended in April for suggesting Jewish people and Roma/traveller communities did not face racism – would also be entitled to a high Loss of Office payment, estimated at around £35,000, having been elected in 1987. 

There are currently 16 MPs who have been suspended from their parties for alleged wrongdoing – including seven Conservatives, eight Labour MPs, one Plaid Cymru MP and two from the Scottish National Party. 

There are also two MPs facing current criminal charges, including one unnamed Conservative MP on suspicion of rape, and London MP Bob Stewart who faces a harassment charge from the Met Police over an incident outside the Bahraini embassy.

And Nadine Dorries pledged to stand down with “immediate effect” last month following the report into Boris Johnson’s lies over partygate – but has since appeared to change her mind as she launched her own “investigation” into why she was denied a peerage. 

In total, the 19 MPs are in line for a total of £189,492 in Winding Up payments if they are defeated at the next election. Several of them however have pledged not to restand including ex-Tories Christopher Pincher, Matt Hancock and Julian Knight. Others may be re-admitted into their party following investigations – or ousted and forced to stand as independents. 

The 16 suspended MPs may be entitled to an additional total of more than £290,000 in Loss of Office payments if they cling on until the next General Election and are defeated. In addition, Mid Bedfordshire Tory MP Nadine Dorries – who has not been suspended but had pledged to stand down immediately – could get £25,720 in a Loss of Office payment.

In total, 18 suspended or under-investigation MPs (i.e. excluding Nadine Dorries) will be entitled to over £500,000 if they are defeated at the next election, rather than standing down now. This is assuming the anonymous MP under investigation for rape allegations was elected at the most recent election in 2019 (we have used the lowest Loss of Office payment estimate possible). 

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Tom Brake, director of Unlock Democracy, said: “MPs who’ve been thrown out of their parties for bad behaviour shouldn’t be allowed to hang on by their fingernails in the hope of a big payout.

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The Winding Up payment is normally calculated at the General Election, but is equivalent to two months’ salary after the deduction of tax and National Insurance (the payment is not itself taxed). That would make it £9,868 for an MP earning no other outside income and not claiming the state pension. In 2019/20 the Winding Up payment was £8,400 per MP. 

The figure is a single amount applicable to all eligible MPs, calculated using the MPs’ basic salary during the financial year in which the election occurs and standard tax and National Insurance deductions.

The Loss of Office payment figures are estimates based on length of service and double the statutory redundancy entitlement of £643 per week. 

A spokesperson for IPSA told Byline Times: “MPs who leave Parliament during a term (i.e., not at an election) get funding for winding up costs for two months after they leave, but they don’t get the Loss of Office payment or [the separate] winding up payment. That’s regardless of whether they stand down or face a successful recall petition.”

The pension scheme is separate, so all former MPs are able to take their pension as normal if they’ve reached retirement age, based on their years of service.

All those who face allegations rather than proven convictions are understood to deny wrongdoing. 

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