MPs’ business costs

Liz Saville Roberts

IPSA paid £2,286,382 against 1,904 published rows for Liz Saville Roberts between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Dwyfor Meirionnydd 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, 2015-16 to 2025-26

1,904 claims, £2,286,382 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.	37	£1,705,226	74.6%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	1,526	£251,697	11.0%
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.	220	£212,853	9.3%
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.	107	£111,851	4.9%
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	£2,532	0.1%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	11	£2,224	0.1%

Every year in the register

Liz Saville Roberts’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	126	£92,569	£13,947	£17,592	£9,630	£2,532	—	£136,270
2016-17	213	£135,505	£22,279	£19,926	£11,094	—	—	£188,805
2017-18	203	£148,757	£17,461	£20,431	£11,795	—	£163	£198,607
2018-19	192	£145,899	£19,847	£20,736	£12,885	—	£203	£199,570
2019-20	163	£147,521	£22,927	£20,410	£13,475	—	—	£204,333
2020-21	154	£172,154	£24,734	£19,323	£5,786	—	—	£221,997
2021-22	145	£193,974	£23,045	£22,710	£6,864	—	—	£246,593
2022-23	203	£196,752	£28,838	£20,923	£11,025	—	£568	£258,106
2023-24	179	£220,515	£27,506	£23,937	£11,564	—	£214	£283,735
2024-25	230	£249,794	£32,596	£25,648	£17,733	—	£1,076	£326,846
2025-26	96	£1,785	£18,518	£1,217	—	—	—	£21,519

A year in which Liz Saville Roberts 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 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	10	£1,686,262
Bought-in services	10	£16,093
Training - staff	4	£1,742
Working From Home Allowance	1	£520
Volunteer - agreed arrangement costs	1	£251
Public Tr RAIL Volunteer - SG	4	£166

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	53	£28,905
Utilities	87	£28,062
Stationery & printing	145	£19,906
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	82	£17,424
Advertising and contact cards	111	£15,772
Const Office Rent	46	£15,576

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	49	£114,090
Accommodation Rent	47	£69,723
Utilities	74	£10,153
Council tax	7	£9,907
Council Tax	4	£4,264
Water	5	£1,873

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	4	£45,404
Mileage - car	31	£30,616
Rail	21	£21,448
Hotel - London	3	£6,875
Parking	22	£3,151
Congestion charge & toll	7	£1,688

Starting up and winding up

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Office Alterations StartUp	3	£2,532

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Removals	4	£1,076
Translation services (Welsh Language)	5	£782
Contingency	2	£366

Largest claims, 2015-16 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.

Date	Category	Cost type	Description	Claimed	Paid
31 March 2025	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year	£238,866	£238,866
31 March 2024	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year	£215,517	£215,517
31 March 2023	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year	£195,817	£195,817
31 March 2022	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£193,974	£193,974
31 March 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£172,123	£172,123
31 March 2018	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year	£148,757	£148,757
31 March 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£147,521	£147,521
31 March 2019	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year	£145,899	£145,899
31 March 2017	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year	£135,219	£135,219
31 March 2016	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year	£92,569	£92,569
31 March 2025	Accommodation	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25	£21,000	£21,000
31 March 2022	Accommodation	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£18,460	£18,460
31 March 2019	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2018-19	£12,885	£12,885
31 March 2018	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2017-18	£11,795	£11,795
31 March 2017	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2016-17	£11,094	£11,094

Claims refused and money repaid, 2015-16 to 2025-26

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £22 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 Liz Saville Roberts 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 Saville Roberts’s register of interests and votes · Sources