MPs’ business costs

John Healey

IPSA paid £3,345,360 against 3,954 published rows for John Healey between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Wentworth and Dearne CC, then Rawmarsh and Conisbrough 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, 2017-18

227 claims, £199,445 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.	7	£144,875	72.6%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	192	£23,367	11.7%
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.	27	£22,396	11.2%
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	£8,807	4.4%

Every year in the register

John Healey’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	250	£85,840	£19,152	£15,532	£11,100	—	£131,624
2011-12	313	£112,197	£21,083	£18,462	£13,924	£70	£165,735
2012-13	325	£133,033	£25,309	£22,060	£15,753	£696	£196,851
2013-14	277	£136,080	£22,560	£20,730	£11,718	—	£191,088
2014-15	306	£138,600	£23,442	£18,899	£12,071	—	£193,012
2015-16	271	£139,797	£22,534	£20,600	£12,268	—	£195,199
2016-17	226	£156,514	£23,378	£20,503	£14,467	—	£214,861
2017-18	227	£144,875	£23,367	£22,396	£8,807	—	£199,445
2018-19	239	£145,217	£21,852	£22,592	£14,016	—	£203,677
2019-20	253	£155,276	£25,661	£22,449	£13,678	£276	£217,340
2020-21	222	£188,418	£38,146	£21,055	£6,286	£1,226	£255,131
2021-22	235	£200,526	£25,758	£23,025	£10,827	—	£260,136
2022-23	231	£221,331	£24,246	£23,311	£12,733	—	£281,621
2023-24	281	£227,666	£34,420	£22,558	£11,884	—	£296,527
2024-25	207	£232,001	£29,852	£25,325	£10,015	£23,475	£320,668
2025-26	91	—	£20,977	£1,469	—	—	£22,446

A year in which John Healey 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, 2017-18

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£139,195
Pooled Services	4	£4,800
Staff Training Costs	2	£880

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	5	£4,778
Stationery Purchase	16	£2,984
Computer HW Purchase	4	£2,559
IT/Other Equipment Hire	7	£2,478
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	33	£1,707
Const Office Cleaning	32	£1,511

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	13	£20,151
Ground Rent	3	£1,129
Council Tax	2	£493
Water	1	£342
Electricity	5	£159
Internet	2	£72

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£8,807

Largest claims, 2017-18

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 2018	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year	£139,195	£139,195
31 March 2018	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2017-18	£8,807	£8,807
26 January 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,798	£1,798
21 December 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,798	£1,798
24 November 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,798	£1,798
20 September 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,680	£1,680
19 August 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,680	£1,680
19 July 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,680	£1,680
19 June 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,680	£1,680
18 May 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,680	£1,680
19 April 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,680	£1,680
1 April 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,491	£1,491
23 February 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,444	£1,444
20 March 2018	Office Costs	Stationery Purchase	Banner	£1,226	£1,226
24 January 2018	Staffing	Pooled Services	PRS Pooled services	£1,200	£1,200

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 John Healey 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 · John Healey’s register of interests and votes · Sources