MPs’ business costs
Helen Hayes
IPSA paid £2,214,783 against 778 published rows for Helen Hayes between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Dulwich and West Norwood 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
76 claims, £195,644 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. | 1 | £161,873 | 82.7% |
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 74 | £26,636 | 13.6% |
| Miscellaneous | Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19. | 1 | £7,134 | 3.6% |
Every year in the register
Helen Hayes’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2015-16 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 | Starting up and winding up | Miscellaneous | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-16 | 108 | £132,208 | £23,183 | £49 | £4,903 | — | £160,344 |
| 2016-17 | 81 | £148,500 | £22,038 | £28 | — | — | £170,566 |
| 2017-18 | 54 | £154,007 | £20,406 | — | — | — | £174,414 |
| 2018-19 | 73 | £163,144 | £25,647 | — | — | — | £188,791 |
| 2019-20 | 76 | £161,873 | £26,636 | — | — | £7,134 | £195,644 |
| 2020-21 | 49 | £204,981 | £17,060 | — | — | — | £222,041 |
| 2021-22 | 66 | £218,266 | £22,868 | £205 | — | — | £241,340 |
| 2022-23 | 68 | £235,879 | £29,164 | £665 | — | — | £265,709 |
| 2023-24 | 96 | £249,507 | £31,531 | £265 | — | — | £281,303 |
| 2024-25 | 62 | £268,497 | £27,484 | — | — | — | £295,981 |
| 2025-26 | 45 | — | £18,653 | — | — | — | £18,653 |
A year in which Helen Hayes 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 | £161,873 |
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Stationery & printing | 19 | £5,484 |
| Rent | 10 | £5,000 |
| Pooled staffing services | 1 | £3,600 |
| Venue hire, meetings & surgeries | 9 | £3,522 |
| Equipment - purchase | 9 | £2,976 |
| Service charge & ground Rent | 3 | £1,597 |
Miscellaneous
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Service charge & ground Rent | 1 | £7,134 |
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 | £161,873 | £161,873 |
| 29 October 2019 | Miscellaneous | Service charge & ground Rent | Rosendale Road office - late service charge 8/5/2015 to 31/03/2019. The IPSA contingency panel already have copies of all paperwork and receipts and have confirmed this contingency application. | £7,134 | £7,134 |
| 3 June 2019 | Office Costs | Pooled staffing services | Parliamentary Research Service (Labour) | £3,600 | £3,600 |
| 25 March 2020 | Office Costs | Equipment - purchase | Computer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories | £1,216 | £1,216 |
| 25 March 2020 | Office Costs | Equipment - purchase | Computer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories | £1,216 | £1,216 |
| 13 February 2020 | Office Costs | Venue hire, meetings & surgeries | — | £998 | £998 |
| 12 February 2020 | Office Costs | Advertising and contact cards | Surgery cards | £996 | £996 |
| 10 March 2020 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | VIKING UK | £832 | £832 |
| 12 February 2020 | Office Costs | Service charge & ground Rent | Constituency office running costs share Q3 2019-2020 | £772 | £772 |
| 23 January 2020 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | VIKING UK | £721 | £721 |
| 29 May 2019 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | VIKING UK | £703 | £703 |
| 21 August 2019 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | VIKING UK | £696 | £696 |
| 20 March 2020 | Office Costs | Bought-in services | Parliamentary accountancy | £660 | £660 |
| 9 April 2019 | Office Costs | Venue hire, meetings & surgeries | — | £560 | £560 |
| 18 March 2020 | Office Costs | Rent | — | £500 | £500 |
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 Hayes 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 Hayes’s register of interests and votes · Sources