MPs’ business costs

Dame Angela Eagle

IPSA paid £2,717,547 against 1,297 published rows for Dame Angela Eagle between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Wallasey BC. These are the costs of running an office and employing staff under IPSA’s rules. They are not salary, and the largest part of them is wages IPSA pays to the member’s employees rather than money the member receives.

By category, 2017-18

73 claims, £159,447 paid. The headings are IPSA’s own categories grouped; the categories inside each are named on the register page.

CategoryWhat it coversClaimsPaidShare
StaffingThe salaries and employment costs of the people an MP employs to run their office and casework. IPSA pays these directly; they are not money an MP receives.3£132,74883.3%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.40£16,83510.6%
AccommodationThe cost of somewhere to stay for an MP whose constituency is far enough from Westminster that IPSA's rules allow it. An MP representing a London seat is not eligible on the same terms.29£4,9613.1%
TravelJourneys between the constituency and Westminster and within the constituency. Until 2018-19 IPSA published one travel category; from 2019-20 it publishes travel by the MP, by staff and by a dependant separately.1£4,9033.1%

Every year in the register

Dame Angela Eagle’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2010-11 and the last is 2025-26. Figures are not adjusted for inflation, so a rise between two distant years is partly a rise in prices. Select a year to read it on its own.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelTotal
2010-1180£86,185£14,486£3,714£5,174£109,559
2011-12109£114,806£16,378£4,159£5,883£141,227
2012-13105£130,227£16,066£5,320£5,249£156,862
2013-1492£138,305£19,698£3,639£5,164£166,806
2014-15102£137,482£22,087£5,031£7,067£171,667
2015-1685£135,612£23,323£4,477£5,582£168,994
2016-1780£135,711£21,030£5,224£7,285£169,250
2017-1873£132,748£16,835£4,961£4,903£159,447
2018-1989£137,926£19,720£5,034£5,684£168,363
2019-20109£140,355£22,877£5,333£6,039£174,605
2020-2177£161,489£21,402£5,149£1,706£189,746
2021-2242£152,573£24,211£5,480£3,939£186,203
2022-2377£195,412£21,628£5,176£4,681£226,896
2023-2478£221,369£26,439£6,330£3,735£257,873
2024-2561£223,883£23,319£6,741£3,923£257,867
2025-2638£5,315£6,870£12,185

A year in which Dame Angela Eagle joined or left the House part-way through is a part year, and is not comparable with a full one.

What each category is made of, 2017-18

The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£125,948
Pooled Services: Direct1£4,800
Practice Liability Insurance1£2,000

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Const Office Rent14£11,451
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental7£1,519
Install/Maint Office Equip.1£1,170
Stationery Purchase6£673
Computer SW Purchase2£531
Other Equip Purchase1£355

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Service Charges2£2,275
Council Tax10£1,091
Telephone Usage/Rental12£795
Water2£662
Electricity3£138

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Aggregated Travel Costs1£4,903

Largest claims, 2017-18

The 15 rows IPSA paid most against, with IPSA’s own description of each. Read the description before the amount: IPSA publishes most of a member’s staffing as one row for the whole year — “Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the ⟨year⟩ year” — so the largest row here is usually a year of wages for the member’s employees and not something bought.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
31 March 2018StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year£125,948£125,948
31 March 2018TravelAggregated Travel CostsAggregated figure for travel during 2017-18£4,903£4,903
28 April 2017StaffingPooled Services: DirectPRS£4,800£4,800
20 February 2018StaffingPractice Liability InsuranceStaffing Cost Feb 2018£2,000£2,000
13 September 2017Office CostsInstall/Maint Office Equip.Payment card September 2017£1,170£1,170
30 November 2017AccommodationService ChargesAccomodationNov 2017£1,163£1,163
12 April 2017AccommodationService ChargesAcommodation April 2017£1,113£1,113
23 February 2018Office CostsConst Office Rent£1,025£1,025
26 January 2018Office CostsConst Office Rent£1,025£1,025
21 December 2017Office CostsConst Office Rent£1,025£1,025
24 November 2017Office CostsConst Office Rent£1,025£1,025
29 October 2017Office CostsConst Office Rent£1,025£1,025
29 September 2017Office CostsConst Office Rent£1,025£1,025
29 August 2017Office CostsConst Office Rent£1,025£1,025
27 July 2017Office CostsConst Office Rent£1,025£1,025

What this page does not show

Whether any of it was justified. IPSA accepted these claims under its own rules and the register records what was paid, not whether it should have been. A large total is not a finding about the member.

Nor how Dame Angela Eagle compares with another member. After staffing the largest headings are accommodation and travel, and both are decided mostly by where a constituency is: a member several hundred miles from Westminster is eligible for costs a member with a London seat is not. Two members’ totals are two sets of rules as much as two sets of choices, and the length of service differs too.

It is also not pay. IPSA sets and publishes MPs’ salaries separately and they are not in this register; the staffing figure here is the salaries of the member’s employees.

All MPs’ business costs · Dame Angela Eagle’s register of interests and votes · Sources