MPs’ business costs

Helen Maguire

IPSA paid £239,844 against 249 published rows for Helen Maguire between 2024-25 and 2025-26 as the member for Epsom and Ewell 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 to 2025-26

249 claims, £239,844 paid. The headings are IPSA’s own categories grouped; the categories inside each are named on the register page.

CategoryWhat it coversClaimsPaidShare
StaffingThe 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.15£188,99378.8%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.222£46,31719.3%
TravelJourneys 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.11£4,0341.7%
MiscellaneousClaims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.1£5000.2%

Every year in the register

Helen Maguire’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2024-25 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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2024-25184£188,272£27,678£4,034£219,984
2025-2665£721£18,640£500£19,860

A year in which Helen Maguire 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 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£168,629
Bought-in services7£10,206
Training - staff5£5,081
Pooled staffing services1£4,900
Working From Home Allowance1£177

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent10£11,880
Equipment - purchase44£10,904
Stationery & printing61£7,462
Software & applications24£5,388
Training - staff10£5,025
Training - MP5£1,919

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail4£2,646
Parking3£1,145
Hotel - European1£119
Subsistence2£94
Railcard1£30

Miscellaneous

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Removals1£500

Largest claims, 2024-25 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.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
31 March 2025StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year£168,629£168,629
16 August 2024StaffingPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Support Team (Liberal Democrat)£4,900£4,900
18 February 2026Office CostsEquipment - purchaseOther office equipment£3,240£3,240
25 March 2025StaffingTraining - staffPARLI-TRAINING [200011725-8457]£3,000£3,000
25 March 2025Office CostsEquipment - purchaseOffice furniture£2,635£2,635
17 December 2024StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£2,306£2,306
6 November 2024StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£2,306£2,306
1 April 2025Office CostsRent£1,800£1,800
4 March 2025Office CostsRent£1,800£1,800
4 February 2025Office CostsRent£1,800£1,800
6 January 2025Office CostsRent£1,800£1,800
3 December 2024Office CostsRent£1,800£1,800
31 March 2025Staff TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£1,781£1,781
1 February 2025StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£1,729£1,729
28 March 2025StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£1,642£1,642

Claims refused and money repaid, 2024-25 to 2025-26

20 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £301 not paid and £6,723 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 Maguire 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 Maguire’s register of interests and votes · Sources