Overview

• The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority announced it has formally rejected claims by MPs and their staff for non-essential items under second-home allowances.
• MPs affected include Sean Woodcock, Gill Furniss and Luke Myer, as well as staff of Simon Opher and Liberal Democrat MP Lee Dillon.
• The claims, submitted last October, were disclosed on July 7 as part of IPSA’s routine auditing and enforcement cycle.
• All involved repaid the costs in full and did not resubmit claims after IPSA deemed such personal and decorative purchases unclaimable.
• These rejections underscore the post-2009 reforms that ban personal and decorative items from parliamentary allowances and highlight ongoing confusion among MPs that fuels media scrutiny.