MPs’ business costs

Liz Twist

IPSA paid £1,898,812 against 1,832 published rows for Liz Twist between 2017-18 and 2025-26 as the member for Blaydon BC, then Blaydon and Consett 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, 2019-20

251 claims, £189,078 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.	2	£141,546	74.9%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	187	£20,455	10.8%
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	£18,172	9.6%
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.	15	£8,905	4.7%

Every year in the register

Liz Twist’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2017-18 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
2017-18	136	£112,367	£26,004	£15,960	£7,751	—	£162,083
2018-19	188	£149,839	£22,494	£19,863	£8,112	—	£200,308
2019-20	251	£141,546	£20,455	£18,172	£8,905	—	£189,078
2020-21	187	£181,543	£29,414	£18,107	£3,691	£2,105	£234,860
2021-22	193	£199,813	£23,231	£19,824	£5,632	—	£248,501
2022-23	237	£203,243	£26,990	£19,995	£6,699	—	£256,927
2023-24	273	£224,964	£26,353	£22,572	£7,289	—	£281,178
2024-25	249	£245,440	£25,670	£22,772	£10,101	—	£303,983
2025-26	118	—	£19,444	£2,451	—	—	£21,895

A year in which Liz Twist 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, 2019-20

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£139,146
Pooled staffing services	1	£2,400

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	2	£3,421
Utilities	16	£2,955
Mobile telephone - contract & usage	30	£2,853
Cleaning services	32	£1,914
Stationery & printing	62	£1,870
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	6	£1,550

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	11	£15,950
Council tax	10	£1,445
Utilities	12	£392
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	14	£385

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	2	£8,032
Hotel - London	1	£499
Other public transport	3	£111
Taxi	2	£104
Parking	3	£58
Subsistence	1	£52

Largest claims, 2019-20

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 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£139,146	£139,146
31 March 2020	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2019-20	£4,488	£4,488
31 March 2020	Staff Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2019-20	£3,544	£3,544
5 November 2019	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£2,400	£2,400
15 July 2019	Office Costs	Rent	Rent and service 1/4/2019 - 30/9/19	£1,779	£1,779
20 December 2019	Office Costs	Rent	Rent and Service Charge 1 Oct 2019 - 31 March 2020	£1,643	£1,643
25 March 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,450	£1,450
26 February 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,450	£1,450
29 January 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,450	£1,450
26 December 2019	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,450	£1,450
29 November 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,450	£1,450
24 October 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,450	£1,450
25 September 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,450	£1,450
23 August 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,450	£1,450
25 July 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,450	£1,450

Claims refused and money repaid, 2019-20

6 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £466 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 Twist 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 Twist’s register of interests and votes · Sources