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, 2024-25
62 claims, £295,981 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 | £268,497 | 90.7% |
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 61 | £27,484 | 9.3% |
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, 2024-25
The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.
Staffing
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll | 1 | £268,497 |
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Rent | 1 | £6,000 |
| Venue hire, meetings & surgeries | 14 | £5,310 |
| Pooled staffing services | 1 | £4,600 |
| Service charge & ground Rent | 6 | £3,788 |
| Stationery & printing | 16 | £2,271 |
| Advertising and contact cards | 2 | £1,968 |
Largest claims, 2024-25
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 | £268,497 | £268,497 |
| 31 March 2025 | Office Costs | Rent | Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25 | £6,000 | £6,000 |
| 12 April 2024 | Office Costs | Pooled staffing services | Parliamentary Research Service (Labour) | £4,600 | £4,600 |
| 4 February 2025 | Office Costs | Advertising and contact cards | 2025 surgery cards - advance payment request | £1,512 | £1,512 |
| 2 April 2024 | Office Costs | Service charge & ground Rent | Constituency office Q1 2024 service charge - advance payment request | £1,155 | £1,155 |
| 4 February 2025 | Office Costs | Service charge & ground Rent | Rosendale Road constituency office - 2024 Quarter 4 service charge - advance payment | £959 | £959 |
| 18 November 2024 | Office Costs | Venue hire, meetings & surgeries | — | £945 | £945 |
| 24 September 2024 | Office Costs | Software & applications | ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES | £720 | £720 |
| 7 February 2025 | Office Costs | Bought-in services | Parliamentary accountancy | £660 | £660 |
| 19 August 2024 | Office Costs | Service charge & ground Rent | 2024 Quarter 2 service charge for constituency office advance payment request. Note that earlier erroneous Q2 2024 service charge invoice from freeholder previously claimed has now been reimbursed by Helen Hayes MP. | £595 | £595 |
| 1 October 2024 | Office Costs | Venue hire, meetings & surgeries | — | £569 | £569 |
| 7 October 2024 | Office Costs | Service charge & ground Rent | Constituency office service charge - 2024 Quarter 3 - advance payment request | £557 | £557 |
| 20 March 2025 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | VIKING [200011725-6798] | £557 | £557 |
| 14 February 2025 | Office Costs | Venue hire, meetings & surgeries | — | £525 | £525 |
| 10 July 2024 | Office Costs | Service charge & ground Rent | 2024 Quarter 2 constituency office service charge | £522 | £522 |
Claims refused and money repaid, 2024-25
3 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £970 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 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