27th July 2024 10:29 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.
Find out about w4mp
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.
Setting up Your Office
Between June 2023 to June 2024 a cross-party group of civic technologists worked together to create the MP Office Manual. They are all keen to see MPs with well run offices contributing to a flourishing democracy in the UK.
You can read it at mpofficemanual.uk. Please note that this is hosted on Google Docs and is an external site, not affiliated with w4mp. Please be careful to check any links etc. from the site as they will be to third party sites.
The proposals in the manual come from in-depth interviews with current and former MPs office staff, and expert advice from over thirty practitioners, allied with a survey of staff members and a review of current literature including all past guides and examples found on w4mp, Hansard Society, and Parliament.
Follow us @w4mpsite on X/Twitter or find us on Facebook
Read a welcome to the site from Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the House of Commons
Please see our Covid-19 page for details of support available to staff.
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
Latest News
BGIPU Annual Charity Quiz
Time: 18:00Date: Monday 9 September 2024Location: Bellamy’s Café BGIPU will be hosting the Annual Charity Quiz on Monday 9th September in Bellamy’s café from 1800. This is open to all members and parliamentary staff, teams are up to 6 people, but individuals can also attend. Entrance is £5pp going to charity, there will be prizes…
Members’ Office Managers Induction – Welcome to Parliament
All new office managers are strongly advised to book in on an induction session. Time: 13:00 – 16:00Date: Thursday 8 August 2024Location: Online via Teams Time: 13:00 – 16:00Date: Tuesday 20 August 2024Location: Parliament, in person Time: 13:00 – 16:00Date: Thursday 5 September 2024Location: Online via Teams Time: 13:00 – 16:00Date: Tuesday 17 September 2024Location:…
Room Available in Walthamstow from September to December
Ref: 2980 Large room available in Walthamstow house, with access to own bathroom. Sharing house with one other female. Available from September to end of December. £1000 per month including bills. Contact c/o karen.lawrinson@parliament.uk
Concerns relating to Health Assured
The BBC has reported claims that corporate clients of Health Assured, the provider of the staff Employee Assistance Programme, listened in to confidential helpline calls without the knowledge or permission of callers. You can read the House response to this on ParliNet, with contact details for those who need further advice or guidance.
Pathways to Parliament: UK Parliament Work Experience
Do you know anyone aged between 14 and 18 who is interested in the work of Parliament? The Learning and Careers team have partnered with one of the UK’s leading providers for online work experience, Springpod, to run a 3 month on demand virtual work experience programme. The programme is now live until the 6th…
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
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
