[2] She previously sat for Labour when, in 2012, Uddin was required to repay £125,349, the largest amount in the United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal.

She attended the Plashet School in East Ham and was educated at the University of North London, where she earned a degree in social work.

In 1990, Uddin was elected a Labour councillor in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, the first Bengali woman to hold such an office of a local authority in the United Kingdom.

Appointed a Labour "working peer" by Tony Blair, she was raised to the peerage, at the age of 39, as Baroness Uddin, of Bethnal Green in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets,[8] for life by Letters patent in the afternoon of 18 July 1998, at the House of Lords.

[11] She was invited to the House of Lords for her contribution to the advancement of women and disability rights, swearing in by saying "Almighty Allah" as she took her seat in the parliament.

[17] In October 2010, under the recommendation of The Privileges and Conduct Committee of The House of Lords a suspension is to be handed down to Pola Uddin until Easter 2012 at the earliest for claiming expenses "to which she was not entitled".

[20] In May 2009, an article by The Sunday Times Insight team alleged that Uddin submitted House of Lords Expenses for a flat in Maidstone, Kent as her main residence.

[23] Uddin's husband even denied having a property in Kent when questioned on the issue by the Times, and she appeared on the electoral roll at her London address from 1996 to date.

[24] Scottish National Party MP Angus Robertson called for an investigation on the report to the House of Lords authorities and the police.

[26] In January 2010 The Times newspaper revealed the property she had claimed for during this period was owned and occupied by her brother and his family, with Uddin's sister-in-law stating she couldn't recollect the Peer ever living there.

The allegations of fraud led the Conservative opposition leader in Tower Hamlets, Peter Golds, to state, "Lady Uddin is depriving a low-income family of a home which was built for the needy at public expense".

[31] The Crown Prosecution Service announced on 10 March 2010 that Baroness Uddin would not face any charges on the grounds that a senior parliamentary official ruled that a peer's "main house" might be a place they visit only once a month.

[32] On 18 October 2010, the House of Lords Privileges and Conduct Committee ruled that Baroness Uddin had 'acted in bad faith'[33] and recommended that she should be asked to repay £125,349 as well as being suspended from Parliament until Easter 2012.

The mansion was believed to have been built after Uddin became a peer in 1998, costing £140,000 which was organised by her husband Komar, located in Jawa Bazar in Chhatak; this is where many of her in-laws are originally from.