MPs’ business costs

Kate Dearden

IPSA paid £204,989 against 241 published rows for Kate Dearden between 2024-25 and 2025-26 as the member for Halifax 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, 2025-26

95 claims, £29,745 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	£5,940	20.0%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	89	£23,805	80.0%

Every year in the register

Kate Dearden’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.

Year	Claims	Staffing	Office costs	Accommodation	Travel	Total
2024-25	146	£119,574	£27,857	£18,907	£8,905	£175,243
2025-26	95	£5,940	£23,805	—	—	£29,745

A year in which Kate Dearden 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, 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Bought-in services	4	£3,750
Training - staff	2	£2,190

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Service charge & ground Rent	12	£6,923
Equipment - purchase	2	£2,875
Software & applications	4	£2,175
Stationery & printing	2	£2,136
Parking	10	£1,920
Training - staff	5	£1,698

Largest claims, 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.

Date	Category	Cost type	Description	Claimed	Paid
20 March 2026	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Other office equipment	£2,676	£2,676
27 February 2026	Staffing	Bought-in services	Administrative services	£1,500	£1,500
16 June 2025	Office Costs	Software & applications	Elected Technologies - Caseworker Software	£1,476	£1,476
16 March 2026	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	Letterhead	£1,194	£1,194
25 March 2026	Staffing	Training - staff	Staff Training - [***]	£1,140	£1,140
25 March 2026	Staffing	Training - staff	Staff Training - [***]	£1,050	£1,050
9 October 2025	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	Letterhead	£942	£942
18 December 2025	Office Costs	Recruitment Services &Costs	Hive Recruitment Service	£900	£900
9 February 2026	Staffing	Bought-in services	Administrative services	£750	£750
30 January 2026	Staffing	Bought-in services	Administrative services	£750	£750
23 January 2026	Staffing	Bought-in services	Administrative services	£750	£750
24 December 2025	Office Costs	Training - staff	CAUSEWAYCREATIVE.CO.UK	£594	£594
24 December 2025	Office Costs	Training - staff	CAUSEWAYCREATIVE.CO.UK	£594	£594
13 March 2026	Office Costs	Service charge & ground Rent	Service Charge Constituency Office (Feb)	£577	£577
13 March 2026	Office Costs	Service charge & ground Rent	Service Charge Constituency Office (March)	£577	£577

Claims refused and money repaid, 2025-26

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £150 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 Kate Dearden 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 · Kate Dearden’s register of interests and votes · Sources