12th March 2025 5:14 am
The Working for an MP website is a resource for anyone working for a British Member of Parliament or with an interest in how Parliament works. You can read about the site’s history, or get in touch with suggestions or feedback, or find out about the help and advice available to staff from the House of Commons, including the IGCS Behaviour Code. It is also home to the UK’s largest listing of political jobs, at w4mpjobs.
Socials
Follow us on Bluesky at w4mp.bsky.social. We can also be found on Facebook and remain as @w4mpsite on X/Twitter but don’t actively post there.
Latest News
- Introduction to British Sign LanguageA new online course has become available for Members’ staff – an introduction to British Sign Language. If you would be interested in joining the waiting list for this course, please follow this link: https://parliament.learningpool.com/course/view.php?id=2366
- Welcome to Parliament (Members’ Staff Induction)Welcome to Parliament. The new joiner induction sessions are available to book via the ACT portal. If you have a new joiner in your office, please share with them. This session will welcome you to being part of the Parliamentary community and…
- Caseworker Discussion Forum: Police complaints system (England & Wales)The topic for March’s forum meeting will be the Police complaints system (England & Wales). We’ll be joined by William Downs from the Library’s Home Affairs Section for an overview of the police complaints and conduct system, including recent changes to the…
- Members’ Staff Annual Conference 2025The Members and Members’ Staff Services Team (MMSST) invites you to attend the first ever Members’ Staff Annual Conference. The event will take place on Wednesday 19 March 2025, and will be a hybrid event with spaces available to attend in-person (Portcullis House)…
- Are you making the most of POST?The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) produces a wide range of reliable and impartial scientific research for Parliament. Recent articles include: To see the full range of research topics, please visit https://post.parliament.uk/
- Updated Changes to Members’ staff security vettingIn May 2024, the House of Commons Commission endorsed a number of changes to vetting policies, including that all Members’ staff funded by IPSA must be security cleared and this will come into force on 1 April 2025. Please see this news…
w4mp and ParliNet
ParliNet, available to those with a parliamentary login, contains everything you need to stay connected to the parliamentary community. Use it to find information like catering menus, events, contact numbers, and the latest news. If you find any links on w4mp to the old intranet, please let us know.
To access the hotlines on Parlinet you can follow this direct link. To search the document use the SharePoint search box by typing CTRL-F / CMD-F.
Are you OK?
Are you OK? How are you coping? Do you need to talk to someone?
An MP’s office can be a busy and stressful environment at the best of times, and over the past few weeks, staff have been under a lot of extra pressure.
The work we do can put a strain on our mental health and wellbeing, and we can often feel isolated. If you are finding it difficult to cope, or just need someone to talk to, or somewhere to offload, please remember that help is available.
The Wellness Working Group offers lots of useful information advice and you can access their hub here: https://hopuk.sharepoint.com/sites/hct-wellbeinghub
Please ring the helpline and talk to someone. It’s what it’s there for.
Health Assured provides an independent support service to MPs’ staff, it is completely confidential, free and can be accessed 24/7 by phone, online portal and app. You can access support for any issue you are struggling with, it doesn’t have to be work related. Look here for further information, their helpline number and a link to access the service: https://hopuk.sharepoint.com/sites/hct-wellbeinghub/SitePages/What-suport-is-there-.aspx
What we do at w4mp
Read a welcome to the site from Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the House of Commons
Archived guides can be found on the w4mp archive. They should not be relied on as expressions of current practice.
Our humourous alt.guides can be found on alt.w4mp.org, along with an archive of Hoby cartoons.
“The MPs’ assistants and researchers walk at twice the pace of everyone else and their eyes burn twice as fiercely” John Crace, The Guardian, 14 May 2015
Header image cropped from Wikimedia Commons image by user:Colin CC BY-SA-4.0
