MPs’ business costs

Liz Kendall

IPSA paid £2,693,211 against 2,280 published rows for Liz Kendall between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Leicester West 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, 2021-22

128 claims, £213,106 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.	11	£174,306	81.8%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	67	£22,142	10.4%
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.	47	£12,285	5.8%
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.	3	£4,374	2.1%

Every year in the register

Liz Kendall’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	139	£81,731	£19,017	£9,142	£4,321	—	£114,211
2011-12	179	£114,859	£17,870	£16,058	£5,293	—	£154,080
2012-13	197	£131,413	£19,740	£16,328	£6,688	—	£174,170
2013-14	197	£127,651	£19,423	£5,141	£5,264	—	£157,479
2014-15	143	£134,008	£22,182	£20,599	£5,540	—	£182,329
2015-16	174	£127,102	£20,438	£20,580	£5,060	—	£173,180
2016-17	166	£126,747	£22,851	£20,152	£6,532	—	£176,283
2017-18	134	£132,067	£19,983	—	£6,484	—	£158,535
2018-19	125	£136,385	£19,748	—	£7,482	—	£163,615
2019-20	194	£128,179	£15,128	—	£9,008	—	£152,315
2020-21	87	£159,189	£24,121	£2,864	£807	£244	£187,225
2021-22	128	£174,306	£22,142	£12,285	£4,374	—	£213,106
2022-23	114	£157,189	£21,379	£11,297	£4,094	—	£193,959
2023-24	160	£183,049	£29,441	£14,590	£5,603	—	£232,683
2024-25	106	£208,456	£22,928	£13,504	£4,548	—	£249,436
2025-26	37	—	£8,002	£2,602	—	—	£10,604

A year in which Liz Kendall 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, 2021-22

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£168,958
Pooled staffing services	1	£4,200
Training - staff	1	£840
Volunteer - agreed arrangement costs	8	£308

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	4	£16,900
Working From Home Allowance	1	£1,638
Equipment - hire	4	£1,384
Software & applications	3	£819
Stationery & printing	28	£410
Mobile telephone - contract & usage	16	£385

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	1	£8,640
Utilities	24	£1,635
Council tax	10	£1,509
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	12	£500

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	3	£4,374

Largest claims, 2021-22

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 2022	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£168,958	£168,958
31 March 2022	Accommodation	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£8,640	£8,640
20 January 2022	Office Costs	Rent	—	£4,225	£4,225
21 October 2021	Office Costs	Rent	Rent	£4,225	£4,225
20 July 2021	Office Costs	Rent	—	£4,225	£4,225
20 April 2021	Office Costs	Rent	—	£4,225	£4,225
27 April 2021	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£4,200	£4,200
31 March 2022	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£2,397	£2,397
31 March 2022	Staff Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£1,963	£1,963
31 March 2022	Office Costs	Working From Home Allowance	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£1,638	£1,638
17 March 2021	Staffing	Training - staff	PCS REAL CLEAR	£840	£840
11 March 2021	Office Costs	Equipment - hire	Printer, photocopier & scanner	£727	£727
15 April 2021	Office Costs	Software & applications	ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES	£600	£600
4 November 2021	Office Costs	Equipment - hire	Printer, photocopier & scanner	£219	£219
11 August 2021	Office Costs	Equipment - hire	Printer, photocopier & scanner	£219	£219

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 Liz Kendall 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 · Liz Kendall’s register of interests and votes · Sources