MPs’ business costs

Helen Grant

IPSA paid £2,750,803 against 2,305 published rows for Helen Grant between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Maidstone and The Weald CC, then Maidstone and Malling 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, 2012-13

168 claims, £153,273 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.	6	£116,795	76.2%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	150	£19,292	12.6%
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.	11	£16,889	11.0%
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	£297	0.2%

Every year in the register

Helen Grant’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	123	£80,005	£14,111	£10,654	£1,322	—	£106,093
2011-12	117	£95,887	£16,817	£2,383	£974	—	£116,062
2012-13	168	£116,795	£19,292	£16,889	£297	—	£153,273
2013-14	150	£118,653	£19,250	£12,310	£313	—	£150,527
2014-15	138	£137,618	£22,687	£12,504	£896	—	£173,704
2015-16	106	£137,187	£17,216	£8,509	£297	—	£163,209
2016-17	104	£135,986	£17,386	£6,150	£1,017	—	£160,539
2017-18	129	£142,455	£23,090	£11,295	£881	—	£177,721
2018-19	112	£142,460	£23,405	£2,606	—	£775	£169,246
2019-20	181	£152,390	£25,130	£10,087	—	—	£187,606
2020-21	178	£174,698	£28,171	£17,415	—	£1,134	£221,418
2021-22	186	£160,950	£28,271	£23,557	£64	—	£212,842
2022-23	159	£171,945	£23,110	£25,351	£704	—	£221,110
2023-24	146	£194,765	£28,294	£7,850	£1,050	—	£231,959
2024-25	185	£220,576	£31,122	£19,005	£3,098	£2,369	£276,169
2025-26	123	—	£23,089	£6,236	—	—	£29,324

A year in which Helen Grant 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, 2012-13

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£110,510
Pooled Services: Direct	1	£3,960
Professional Services (Staff.)	4	£2,325

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	4	£8,500
Stationery Purchase	91	£3,415
Legal Exp/Emp Practice Insur.	1	£2,000
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	35	£1,803
Computer HW Purchase	3	£927
Advertising	3	£857

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	10	£16,667
Service Charges	1	£222

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£297

Largest claims, 2012-13

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 2013	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2012-13 year	£110,510	£110,510
7 May 2012	Staffing	Pooled Services: Direct	PRU	£3,960	£3,960
19 March 2013	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£2,125	£2,125
19 December 2012	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£2,125	£2,125
19 September 2012	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£2,125	£2,125
19 June 2012	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£2,125	£2,125
4 December 2012	Office Costs	Legal Exp/Emp Practice Insur.	Insurance costs	£2,000	£2,000
9 January 2013	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,667	£1,667
11 December 2012	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,667	£1,667
13 November 2012	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,667	£1,667
9 October 2012	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,667	£1,667
13 September 2012	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,667	£1,667
13 August 2012	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,667	£1,667
13 July 2012	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,667	£1,667
7 June 2012	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,667	£1,667

Claims refused and money repaid, 2012-13

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £40 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 Helen Grant 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 · Helen Grant’s register of interests and votes · Sources