MPs’ business costs

Emma Hardy

IPSA paid £2,003,053 against 1,014 published rows for Emma Hardy between 2017-18 and 2025-26 as the member for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle BC, then Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice 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, 2019-20

124 claims, £213,543 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.	5	£150,392	70.4%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	96	£21,012	9.8%
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.	15	£30,050	14.1%
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.	8	£12,089	5.7%

Every year in the register

Emma Hardy’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2017-18 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	Total
2017-18	129	£109,783	£23,204	£28,160	£7,054	£168,200
2018-19	137	£153,347	£23,119	£32,868	£12,366	£221,700
2019-20	124	£150,392	£21,012	£30,050	£12,089	£213,543
2020-21	101	£179,819	£27,241	£30,110	£4,502	£241,672
2021-22	95	£200,046	£24,290	£27,380	£5,863	£257,579
2022-23	130	£213,517	£26,266	£24,900	£12,804	£277,487
2023-24	153	£226,011	£27,036	£31,505	£12,792	£297,345
2024-25	108	£241,405	£26,359	£36,583	£10,058	£314,405
2025-26	37	£1,676	£7,976	£1,469	—	£11,122

A year in which Emma Hardy 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, 2019-20

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£140,888
Bought-in services	3	£5,904
Pooled staffing services	1	£3,600

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	11	£9,708
Equipment - purchase	16	£3,728
Equipment - hire	2	£3,360
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	24	£1,409
Venue hire, meetings & surgeries	18	£870
Postage & couriers	6	£733

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	11	£28,600
Council tax	1	£1,256
Utilities	3	£193

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	4	£8,578
Hotel - London	1	£2,625
Hotel - UK Not London	1	£634
Subsistence	1	£249
Parking	1	£4

Largest claims, 2019-20

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 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£140,888	£140,888
31 March 2020	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2019-20	£6,571	£6,571
3 June 2019	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£3,600	£3,600
3 March 2020	Office Costs	Rent	Octagon Centre Extra Meeting Room Hire for 6 months Sept-March, Rent of Extra Room for surgeries.	£2,778	£2,778
27 January 2020	Staffing	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£2,676	£2,676
31 March 2020	Staff Travel	Hotel - London	Aggregated figure for travel during 2019-20	£2,625	£2,625
25 March 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,600	£2,600
26 February 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,600	£2,600
29 January 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,600	£2,600
26 December 2019	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,600	£2,600
29 November 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£2,600	£2,600
24 October 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£2,600	£2,600
25 September 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£2,600	£2,600
23 August 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£2,600	£2,600
25 July 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£2,600	£2,600

Claims refused and money repaid, 2019-20

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £91 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 Emma Hardy 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 · Emma Hardy’s register of interests and votes · Sources