MPs’ business costs

Kirsty Blackman

IPSA paid £2,153,138 against 1,825 published rows for Kirsty Blackman between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Aberdeen North 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, 2015-16

146 claims, £153,441 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.	3	£82,199	53.6%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	109	£23,695	15.4%
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.	30	£22,764	14.8%
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	£18,783	12.2%
Starting up and winding up	The one-off costs of opening an office on election and of closing one on leaving. These fall in the years around a general election and are absent from the rest.	3	£6,000	3.9%

Every year in the register

Kirsty Blackman’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	Accommodation	Travel	Starting up and winding up	Miscellaneous	Total
2015-16	146	£82,199	£23,695	£22,764	£18,783	£6,000	—	£153,441
2016-17	195	£139,382	£20,468	£24,994	£14,802	—	—	£199,646
2017-18	193	£125,941	£22,509	£27,651	£10,304	—	—	£186,406
2018-19	188	£138,487	£22,459	£27,939	£21,118	—	—	£210,003
2019-20	184	£135,579	£20,076	£25,152	£17,645	—	—	£198,452
2020-21	129	£130,194	£20,095	£27,762	£1,213	—	—	£179,264
2021-22	167	£146,530	£22,003	£29,168	£12,930	—	£5	£210,637
2022-23	205	£142,813	£22,742	£32,707	£27,044	—	—	£225,307
2023-24	186	£169,780	£22,166	£36,744	£21,859	—	—	£250,549
2024-25	172	£213,507	£29,179	£39,262	£42,992	—	£252	£325,192
2025-26	60	—	£12,615	£1,626	—	—	—	£14,241

A year in which Kirsty Blackman 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, 2015-16

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£79,430
Pooled Services: Direct	1	£2,625
Staff Training Costs	1	£144

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	4	£6,037
Install/Maint Office Equip.	3	£3,685
Const Office Electricity	6	£2,033
Stationery Purchase	22	£1,718
Const Office repairs	2	£1,668
IT/Other Equipment Hire	3	£1,129

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	10	£18,664
Hotel London Area	6	£1,671
Council Tax	1	£1,217
Service Charges	2	£695
Water	4	£181
Electricity	1	£127

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£18,783

Starting up and winding up

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Other Equipment Purch StartUp	2	£3,642
Office Furn Purch StartUp	1	£2,358

Largest claims, 2015-16

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 2016	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year	£79,430	£79,430
31 March 2016	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2015-16	£18,783	£18,783
3 December 2015	Office Costs	Install/Maint Office Equip.	office costs november	£2,912	£2,912
30 March 2016	Staffing	Pooled Services: Direct	SNP Group	£2,625	£2,625
21 October 2015	Start Up	Other Equipment Purch StartUp	various start up costs	£2,456	£2,456
18 December 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£2,400	£2,400
9 October 2015	Start Up	Office Furn Purch StartUp	various start up costs	£2,358	£2,358
8 September 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	[***]	£2,058	£2,058
27 January 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
25 December 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
25 November 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
27 October 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
24 September 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
27 August 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
27 July 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885

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 Kirsty Blackman 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 · Kirsty Blackman’s register of interests and votes · Sources