MPs’ business costs

Derek Twigg

IPSA paid £2,104,794 against 1,256 published rows for Derek Twigg between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Halton CC, then Widnes and Halewood 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 to 2025-26

1,256 claims, £2,104,794 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.36£1,500,75371.3%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.896£188,9229.0%
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.288£312,26014.8%
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.36£102,8584.9%

Every year in the register

Derek Twigg’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
2010-11109£74,164£8,529£18,460£5,204£106,358
2011-12111£92,428£13,702£19,401£5,824£131,355
2012-13118£77,343£14,140£19,556£7,273£118,312
2013-14103£68,892£11,157£19,826£9,394£109,270
2014-15101£79,000£12,488£19,485£9,342£120,315
2015-16104£80,987£10,954£17,285£8,648£117,873
2016-1775£80,109£11,564£20,211£8,002£119,886
2017-1862£84,210£10,405£22,063£4,189£120,868
2018-1951£88,804£11,428£18,783£9,065£128,081
2019-20105£100,538£13,668£21,674£2,237£138,117
2020-2164£99,380£14,083£20,187£4,245£137,896
2021-2249£121,405£14,433£22,091£6,419£164,348
2022-2368£126,680£12,734£22,387£6,984£168,785
2023-2459£147,125£13,109£22,300£7,090£189,624
2024-2563£179,687£13,793£26,560£8,942£228,982
2025-2614£2,735£1,990£4,725

A year in which Derek Twigg 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 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll15£1,444,890
Pooled Services: Direct6£28,800
Pooled staffing services6£24,700
Pooled Services1£1,600
Training - staff1£432
Food & Drink Intern/Volunteer1£178

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Const Office Rent114£68,459
Rent50£55,934
Stationery Purchase146£11,281
Stationery & printing106£7,295
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental140£6,001
Equipment - purchase34£5,475

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Accommodation Rent114£160,943
Rent48£126,434
Council tax7£5,978
Council Tax28£5,725
Utilities14£4,777
Water29£3,696

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Aggregated Travel Costs9£66,942
Rail12£29,079
Parking8£5,095
Hotel - London2£1,314
Other public transport4£418
Subsistence1£10

Largest claims, 2010-11 to 2025-26

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 2025StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year£175,087£175,087
31 March 2024StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year£142,625£142,625
31 March 2023StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year£122,048£122,048
31 March 2022StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year£117,205£117,205
31 March 2020StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year£96,938£96,938
31 March 2021StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year£95,780£95,780
31 March 2012StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2011-12 year£92,428£92,428
31 March 2019StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year£84,004£84,004
31 March 2018StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year£79,410£79,410
31 March 2016StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2015-16 year£76,187£76,187
31 March 2013StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2012-13 year£75,696£75,696
31 March 2017StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year£75,309£75,309
31 March 2015StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2014-15 year£74,094£74,094
31 March 2011StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2010-11 year£73,986£73,986
31 March 2014StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2013-14 year£64,092£64,092

Claims refused and money repaid, 2010-11 to 2025-26

4 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £82 not paid and £478 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 Derek Twigg 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 · Derek Twigg’s register of interests and votes · Sources