MPs’ business costs

Ms Diane Abbott

IPSA paid £2,800,548 against 893 published rows for Ms Diane Abbott between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington 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, 2010-11 to 2025-26

893 claims, £2,800,548 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.	117	£2,557,423	91.3%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	766	£239,069	8.5%
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.	10	£4,056	0.1%

Every year in the register

Ms Diane Abbott’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	Travel	Total
2010-11	39	£96,699	£7,745	—	£104,444
2011-12	59	£106,435	£12,898	—	£119,333
2012-13	81	£139,585	£22,891	£868	£163,344
2013-14	48	£135,198	£8,099	£379	£143,676
2014-15	32	£144,154	£14,876	—	£159,031
2015-16	50	£146,259	£21,506	£1,005	£168,769
2016-17	74	£148,500	£25,288	£857	£174,645
2017-18	157	£161,646	£26,850	£160	£188,656
2018-19	72	£164,320	£27,198	—	£191,519
2019-20	87	£158,805	£8,400	£730	£167,934
2020-21	35	£197,268	£20,766	—	£218,035
2021-22	33	£217,844	£8,279	£58	£226,181
2022-23	41	£235,190	£9,459	—	£244,649
2023-24	34	£244,270	£11,595	—	£255,865
2024-25	41	£261,250	£10,312	—	£271,562
2025-26	10	—	£2,906	—	£2,906

A year in which Ms Diane Abbott 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 type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	15	£2,554,547
Professional Services (Staff.)	2	£2,012
Volunteer Agreed Arrang. Costs	76	£1,013
Pooled Staffing Services	1	£400
Public Tr UND Int/Volntr	4	£306
Food & Drink Int/Volntr	2	£86

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Professional Services	80	£63,187
Stationery Purchase	150	£45,650
Training MP Staff	16	£13,962
Equipment - purchase	54	£13,915
Pooled staffing services	10	£13,750
Stationery & printing	122	£13,320

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	5	£3,269
Air travel	1	£372
Taxi	2	£326
Other public transport	2	£91

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.

Date	Category	Cost type	Description	Claimed	Paid
31 March 2025	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year	£261,250	£261,250
31 March 2024	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year	£244,270	£244,270
31 March 2023	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year	£235,190	£235,190
31 March 2022	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£217,844	£217,844
31 March 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£197,206	£197,206
31 March 2019	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year	£164,320	£164,320
31 March 2018	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year	£161,434	£161,434
31 March 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£158,805	£158,805
31 March 2017	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year	£148,726	£148,726
31 March 2016	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year	£145,259	£145,259
31 March 2015	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2014-15 year	£144,154	£144,154
31 March 2013	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2012-13 year	£138,212	£138,212
31 March 2014	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2013-14 year	£135,198	£135,198
31 March 2012	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2011-12 year	£105,980	£105,980
31 March 2011	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2010-11 year	£96,699	£96,699

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

2 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £2,207 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 Ms Diane Abbott 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 · Ms Diane Abbott’s register of interests and votes · Sources