MPs’ business costs

Maria Eagle

IPSA paid £2,822,911 against 1,583 published rows for Maria Eagle between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Garston and Halewood BC, then Liverpool Garston 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, 2012-13

128 claims, £160,234 paid. The headings are IPSA’s own categories grouped; the categories inside each are named on the register page.

CategoryWhat it coversClaimsPaidShare
StaffingThe 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£132,22482.5%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.81£16,37510.2%
AccommodationThe 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.44£3,3132.1%
TravelJourneys 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£8,3225.2%

Every year in the register

Maria Eagle’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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelTotal
2010-1187£96,750£8,451£4,368£6,285£115,855
2011-12110£121,040£12,046£7,274£7,191£147,550
2012-13128£132,224£16,375£3,313£8,322£160,234
2013-14127£137,144£18,542£6,770£6,332£168,788
2014-15140£133,767£22,920£5,150£7,212£169,049
2015-1698£138,856£15,324£4,707£7,254£166,141
2016-17109£141,551£18,394£4,910£6,933£171,788
2017-18115£150,791£23,367£3,569£5,000£182,727
2018-19120£150,840£20,703£5,548£6,577£183,669
2019-20108£135,092£15,463£5,243£6,334£162,131
2020-21103£159,294£17,136£5,031£1,583£183,043
2021-2284£193,494£16,818£5,275£2,864£218,450
2022-23100£219,388£17,589£5,887£4,523£247,387
2023-2481£231,134£19,985£6,178£3,345£260,643
2024-2553£249,211£15,826£6,122£2,660£273,819
2025-2620£5,534£6,102£11,636

A year in which Maria Eagle 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, 2012-13

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£131,424
Pooled Services1£800

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Const Office Rent12£4,380
Newspapers/Journals9£3,136
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental35£2,567
Computer HW Purchase2£2,053
Other Equip Purchase2£1,459
Stationery Purchase7£810

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Service Charges12£1,454
Gas10£850
Electricity10£355
Telephone Usage/Rental10£324
Home Contents Insurance1£186
Television Licence1£146

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Aggregated Travel Costs1£8,322

Largest claims, 2012-13

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.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
31 March 2013StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2012-13 year£131,424£131,424
31 March 2013TravelAggregated Travel CostsAggregated figure for travel during 2012-13£8,322£8,322
21 March 2013Office CostsComputer HW PurchaseOffice Costs March 2013£1,151£1,151
25 March 2013Office CostsOther Equip PurchaseOffice costs March 2013£1,079£1,079
18 June 2012Office CostsComputer HW PurchaseOffice Costs June 2012£902£902
31 March 2013Office CostsNewspapers/JournalsOffice Costs Feb/March£805£805
27 February 2013StaffingPooled ServicesStaffing Feb/March 2013£800£800
9 August 2012Office CostsLegal Expenses InsuranceEPL£604£604
26 November 2012Office CostsNewspapers/JournalsOffice costs Nov 2012£525£525
10 January 2013Office CostsNewspapers/JournalsOffice costs Jan 2013£494£494
20 August 2012Office CostsConst Office Tel. Usage/RentalPayment Card July 2012£493£493
21 May 2012Office CostsNewspapers/JournalsOffice Costs April 2012£461£461
17 May 2012Office CostsConst Office Tel. Usage/RentalTravelcard April/May 2012£460£460
20 March 2013Office CostsOther Equip PurchaseOffice Costs March 2013£380£380
21 March 2013Office CostsConst Office Rent£365£365

Claims refused and money repaid, 2012-13

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £83 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 Maria Eagle 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 · Maria Eagle’s register of interests and votes · Sources

Maria Eagle: business costs paid by IPSA, 2010-11 to 2025-26 | Civometry