MPs’ business costs

Debbie Abrahams

IPSA paid £2,995,178 against 1,494 published rows for Debbie Abrahams between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Oldham East and Saddleworth CC. 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, 2010-11

12 claims, £24,769 paid. The headings are IPSA’s own categories grouped; the categories inside each are named on the register page.

Category	What it covers	Claims	Paid	Share
Staffing	The 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	£19,840	80.1%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	6	£1,877	7.6%
Accommodation	The 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.	2	£1,790	7.2%
Travel	Journeys 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	£1,262	5.1%

Every year in the register

Debbie Abrahams’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.

Year	Claims	Staffing	Office costs	Accommodation	Travel	Miscellaneous	Total
2010-11	12	£19,840	£1,877	£1,790	£1,262	—	£24,769
2011-12	132	£114,431	£25,990	£20,041	£8,158	—	£168,619
2012-13	151	£130,064	£21,252	£23,184	£7,045	—	£181,544
2013-14	154	£125,075	£20,280	£20,100	£8,072	—	£173,527
2014-15	110	£145,003	£20,425	£20,021	£7,705	—	£193,154
2015-16	108	£140,000	£22,853	£20,600	£7,938	—	£191,391
2016-17	86	£137,828	£21,063	£20,610	£9,310	—	£188,810
2017-18	77	£150,900	£21,954	£21,287	£8,560	—	£202,701
2018-19	85	£153,582	£18,247	£20,543	£9,011	£280	£201,664
2019-20	77	£154,490	£13,611	£17,584	£9,640	—	£195,324
2020-21	77	£177,532	£21,407	£20,926	£1,538	—	£221,404
2021-22	72	£190,230	£10,321	£20,994	£4,180	—	£225,725
2022-23	102	£192,812	£23,006	£21,045	£7,314	—	£244,177
2023-24	115	£222,475	£25,505	£20,971	£10,013	—	£278,964
2024-25	77	£243,855	£14,202	£23,219	£8,836	—	£290,112
2025-26	59	—	£11,827	£1,465	—	—	£13,292

A year in which Debbie Abrahams 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, 2010-11

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£15,840
Professional Services (Staff.)	2	£4,000

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Website - Design/Production	3	£1,400
Security	1	£259
Mobile Usage/Rental	2	£218

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	1	£1,400
Interim Hotel London Area	1	£390

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£1,262

Largest claims, 2010-11

The 12 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.

Date	Category	Cost type	Description	Claimed	Paid
31 March 2011	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2010-11 year	£15,840	£15,840
31 March 2011	Staffing	Professional Services (Staff.)	Communications	£2,000	£2,000
15 March 2011	Staffing	Professional Services (Staff.)	Communications	£2,000	£2,000
1 March 2011	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	London accommodation	£1,400	£1,400
31 March 2011	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2010-11	£1,262	£1,262
31 March 2011	Office Costs	Website - Design/Production	January - September 2011	£700	£700
31 March 2011	Office Costs	Website - Design/Production	January - September 2011	£700	£700
20 January 2011	Accommodation	Interim Hotel London Area	Pre Flat Accommodation	£390	£390
8 March 2011	Office Costs	Security	January - September 2011	£259	£259
17 March 2011	Office Costs	Mobile Usage/Rental	January - September 2011	£172	£172
17 February 2011	Office Costs	Mobile Usage/Rental	January - September 2011	£46	£46
31 March 2011	Office Costs	Website - Design/Production	January - September 2011	£0	£0

Claims refused and money repaid, 2010-11

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £700 repaid. A refusal is not a finding of wrongdoing — most are claims outside the scheme’s rules, or submitted without the evidence IPSA requires — and it is shown because leaving it out would show only the money that went out.

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 Debbie Abrahams 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 · Debbie Abrahams’s register of interests and votes · Sources