My expenses and allowances

17/Jun/2009

People are rightly concerned and angry about what they've read in the newspapers about MPs' expenses and allowances. The system is discredited, out of date and in urgent need of radical change. I voted for changes to the system last year and I'm sorry that they didn't go through.

We urgently need a system which is cheaper, simpler, more transparent and cuts the overall cost to the taxpayer. That’s why I welcome the far-reaching reforms that have already been announced, including the Prime Minister’s proposal to replace self-regulation with independent regulation so that we end once and for all the “gentlemen’s club” where MPs set their own pay or expenses.

It’s also right that every MP has their expenses independently checked and audited so that we can restore public confidence and make sure all over-claims are paid back.

Read my full Q&A with the Wakefield Express on my expenses and the need for radical change

My allowances

I know people in our district are keen to know what expenses I claim for and why. I want to be accountable to my constituents about the allowances I have claimed. That's why I have called for the House of Commons to publish the receipts as soon as possible, and a few weeks ago I invited the Wakefield Express into my office to look through all the forms and receipts relating to the claims I put in towards the cost of staying in London when Parliament is sitting.

Read the Wakefield Express story about my expense claims here

Most of the allowances are paid directly by the House of Commons in salaries to the staff who work in my office or to pay directly for the costs of running my offices in Normanton and in the House of Commons.

All the receipts up to 2007/08 have now been published on the Parliament website at www.parliament.uk and you can see further information about my allowances - for example to cover office costs and to pay staff in my constituency and Westminster offices - here: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/edward_balls/normanton#expenses

Additional Costs Allowance (ACA)

The Additional Costs Allowance was set up 30 years ago to reflect the fact that MPs from outside London need to be able to live in their constituencies and also be in Westminster for debates and votes. MPs can only use the allowance for their second home, and we must of course pay all the bills on our main home ourselves.

Castleford is my home. Working in Parliament, Yvette and I need to be in London four days a week. Our children go to school in London so that we can keep our family together - and the whole family travels between London and Castleford each week that Parliament is sitting.

Yvette and I claim around half of the second homes allowance each, towards the costs associated with living in London. We submit our claims jointly and split them 50/50 - and we have never used the allowances for furniture or similar household items.

In advance of the House of Commons publishing all the receipts I published a break-down of my second home expenses on this website so that people here in Wakefield could see for themselves what I claimed for. 

See the summary table of my second home allowance claims here

When Yvette and I moved house in London in 2007 we paid full capital gains tax. In fact, the independent Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards said of our designation as Castleford as our main home that it would "have been substantially to their financial advantage to treat London as their main home." But our home is in Castleford, as anyone who has come to visit us there will know.

Incidental Expenses Provision (IEP)

This allowance is used to pay for all non-staff costs associated with my two offices in Westminster and Normanton - rent, rates, utilities, telephones, paper and envelopes, printer toner and all other office costs - so we can do a good job dealing with thousands of constituents' problems and enquiries every year.

For example, in 2007/08 the allowance was spent as follows: £4,321.90 on rent, £8,945.92 on office running costs including rates and utility bills, £6,695.05 on office equipment and stationery and £1,466.13 on travel and expenses for volunteers and staff.

Communications Allowance

The Communications Allowance was introduced in 2007 to enable MPs communicate better with their constituents. I have used the allowance to keep constituents up to date with the work that I do, to find out what issues local people are concerned about and to give local people information on how to contact me and my office.

The Daily Telegraph

Yvette and I have published our exchanges of letters with the Daily Telegraph on this website, so that people can read all the information for themselves rather than just relying on what’s been written in the newspaper.

On 23 May The Guardian repeated some of the Daily Telegraph’s insinuations and subsequently published a correction which you can read here.

Full statement on Daily Telegraph story
Exchange of letters with the Daily Telegraph – 15 May 2009

Exchange of letters with the Daily Telegraph – 24 May 2009 

Letter to the Dept of Resources June 2010