Simon Danczuk ordered to repay thousands of pounds in expenses

Simon Danczuk arriving at his Rochdale office (Reuters)

Simon Danczuk has been told to repay more than £11,000 of expenses after admitting he made an error in his claims.

The Rochdale MP had been investigated by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) over money he claimed for the cost of his children living in London.

The watchdog has now ruled he must pay back £11,583.20 over an unspecified period.

Its compliance officer, Peter Davies, released provisional investigation findings on Friday, concluding that accommodation “uplifts” allowed for MPs’ dependent children had been incorrectly claimed for Mr Danczuk’s eldest son and daughter.

Ipsa regulates MPs' pay and expenses (Getty)

The teenagers, from his first marriage to Sonia Rossington, were registered with Ipsa shortly before he moved to a larger flat in May 2012 but did not stay at Mr Danczuk’s London home regularly enough to comply with regulations.

“The evidence points overwhelmingly to the conclusion that the MP obtained an increase to his Accommodation Expenditure budget by claiming dependant uplifts for his two oldest children for a period of over three years, when, at no point were either of the children routinely resident,” the Ipsa report said.

“The Compliance Officer must also conclude that this was done knowing that there was no reasonable prospect of the children staying at the accommodation.”

In a letter to Ipsa, Mr Danczuk wrote that he believed he was able to claim the uplift and did so hoping his children would be staying with him more regularly.

“I readily admit that I did not read the rules,” the MP wrote. “I relied on a member of staff to describe the rules to me at the time.

“I should have paid much more attention to the issue.”

Mr Danczuk added that he did not personally take any of the money granted by the uplift, which was directly paid to his landlord.

In a separate statement In reply to Friday's IPSA ruling, MP Danczuk said he believed that he had accurately interpreted the "vaguely worded" guidelines.

"I hold my hands up and admit that this was an error on my partm" he added. "I am relieved that this issue has finally been cleared up and I will of course re-pay the full amount at the earliest opportunity."

The investigation was opened on 1 February following a complaint made by an unidentified member of the public.

Both Mr Danczuk and Ipsa can submit further representations on the findings until 12 April, when the case will be finalised.