AIBU to think this £10,000 for each MP is just plain wrong

[LuluJakey1]

MPs are each entitled to a £10,000 additional payment because they are working from home.

AIBU to think that in these times of financial distress and worry for millions, this is a totally unnecessary payment and should immediately be stopped?

Jeremy Corbyn has apparently refused the money and asked that his be donated to the NHS.

Fair enough. It will be interesting to see what is claimed.

At least they are looking after their own.

I wish other employers thought the same.

As someone who works in IT, some of the points on here are totally ludicrous...

Buy laptops from Argos
Use your own
Just save everything to ‘the cloud’

Maybe fine if all of the applications and the security surrounding them and your network is already virtual and cloud based. If not, like many/most public sector organisations it’s actually impossible.

The infrastructure that sits behind a laptop to allow someone to work remotely is complex and costly. Particularly where there as significant security and compliance considerations. Just because you can do it because your company has previously invested doesn’t mean others, especially public sector organisations can.

MPs and expenses dont have a good track record, I think joe public can be forgiven for being suspicious.

Totally agree @janaih but I think the reporting on this has been more than a bit irresponsible

I agree with both of you! Inflammatory headlines.

A lot of this is in the PR and communication.

If they’d said Laptops to be made available for those having to work from home while handling sensitive info - that’s not controversial.

But it was positioned as ‘funds made available’ for WFH ‘expenses’ (bit of a trigger word there) and references to heating and electricity bills.

It doesn’t take a genius to see that would attract press attention. Particularly at a time when people are losing jobs all over the place and people in essential services are dying because of lack of adequate protection.

And of course it’s interpreted in the light of the expenses scandal which was piss taking beyond measure.

MPs in NI have also been taking a salary for years without actually sitting, so public opinion there is influenced by that too.

It wasn't 'positioned'

IPSOS(?) made the additional funding available, just before they closed their offices for the duration. They exist because of the expenses scandals.

Journalists know full well how and why the additional funding was made available and how it will be accounted for. They also know that the majority of MPs probably won't access the majority of this additional money.

But the reality doesn't make good headlines, doesn't incense readers.

Just refuse to fall for it. Some journalists are attention seeking gutter snipes, making it very hard for those with integrity to get a decent headline, uncover real stories and keep us all properly informed.

What did the press release say?

I’m guessing it referenced the heating/lighting points and used the language around expenses and funds available. Otherwise it wouldn’t be reported.

My point is if they had simply made laptops available the opportunity for the press to make a big deal would have been much lessened.

There wasn't afaik a press release - this is the text from the bulletin that is available - so journalists have seen and twisted

IPSA's Board met yesterday to discuss how we can support you and your staff during the UK's response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. We have agreed a series of immediate measures that we hope will provide you with the resources and flexibility to concentrate on your parliamentary duties and support your staff at this time.
The key changes are:
• Office Costs Budget: There will be an immediate increase of £10,000 to your office costs budget. This is to cover any additional costs you may incur to set up working remotely as a result of coronavirus. This extra budget will be available until March 2021

Where did the heating/electric/phones details come from?

As others have pointed out, ten grand sounds like a lot of money and ‘to cover any additional costs you may incur’ is a very loose definition.

Particularly when it comes a group with a track record on expenses like this one.

I would imagine transposing the categories of costs that an MP can claim for constituency office onto all remote working arrangements.

The times headline was ‘MPs given £10,000 for working from home’ later changed to MPs offered...

I don't know which is worse. The press misrepresentation, or the public's determination to think the worst of everyone and everything rather than find out the facts.

It's incredibly depressing.

As for the Jeremy Corbyn lie. One person tweeted it and suddenly it was viral. The tweet's been taken down now, but I bet that makes no difference. Two very intelligent friends shared it without a thought. Drives me nuts.

I don't know of a single teacher whose ICT equipment they use at home is provided by school.

Every single teacher in the Trust I work for has a school issued laptop and Chromebook. The Admin staff were given laptops to work from home on and, speaking for myself, there is sufficient software installed to access SIMS. We sent kids home with Chromebooks where they had tech shortage at home.

As others have said, I'd be really surprised if the MP's actually needed to spend the grant. Where they do, I'm assuming receipts will be required.

Good that Jezzer didn't miss a trick to polish his halo.

Apologies if this is a repost :

Part 2:

I think it's taught me to check a few sources before getting outraged at what I read.

Gahhh this is so tiresome. I worked for an MP until recently and it’s so frustrating how people just don’t understand the situation and frothing at the mouth to be outraged. Journalists love anything to do with expenses and IPSA though, so I’m not surprised. There’s definitely still a lot of distrust around expenses because of previous behaviour, I do get that.

I see others have made the points about needing laptops set up by digital support with proper security and linked up to parliamentary network...not randomly bought from Argos.....you would assume people would realise this but apparently not!

And obviously you don’t want to be calling lots of constituents on your own private number...you’d never be left alone!

Assholes need to donate it to the NHS

@mummyshark2019 did you read ANY of the thread?

@Mummyshark2019 THEY CAN’T DO THAT, THEY DON’T JUST RECEIVE 10K IN THEIR BANK ACCOUNT, IT’S AN INCREASE TO BUDGETS FOR EXTRA PROVEN NECESSARY EXPENSES

Sorry for caps

Happy Gramps is unhappy. So what? He could have spent the £10k on a new reflective mirror or something for his allotment.

MPs may need a significant amount of new kit to work from home. And all home workers get tax allowances.