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, 2014-15

140 claims, £169,049 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.1£133,76779.1%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.86£22,92013.6%
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.52£5,1503.0%
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£7,2124.3%

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, 2014-15

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£133,767

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Professional Services: Direct1£4,800
Const Office Rent12£4,380
Newspapers/Journals8£2,799
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental27£2,470
Other Equip Purchase5£2,270
Website - Design/Production2£1,950

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Council Tax1£1,475
Service Charges12£1,373
Telephone Usage/Rental12£603
Gas12£597
Water1£479
Electricity12£276

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Aggregated Travel Costs1£7,212

Largest claims, 2014-15

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 2015StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2014-15 year£133,767£133,767
31 March 2015TravelAggregated Travel CostsAggregated figure for travel during 2014-15£7,212£7,212
9 June 2014Office CostsProfessional Services: DirectPRS subscription£4,800£4,800
29 July 2014Office CostsOther Equip PurchaseOffice Costs July 2014£1,908£1,908
20 March 2015AccommodationCouncil TaxPayment Card March 2015£1,475£1,475
18 November 2014Office CostsWebsite - Design/ProductionOffice Costs November 2014£1,450£1,450
9 August 2014Office CostsLegal Exp/Emp Practice Insur.EPL insurance£578£578
2 October 2014Office CostsNewspapers/JournalsNewspapers - delayed invoices£571£571
20 January 2015Office CostsNewspapers/JournalsOffice Costs January (4) 2015£560£560
2 October 2014Office CostsNewspapers/JournalsNewspapers - delayed invoices£545£545
16 February 2015Office CostsConst Office Tel. Usage/RentalPayment Card February 2015£510£510
1 October 2014Office CostsWebsite - Design/ProductionOffice Costs September 2014£500£500
17 March 2015AccommodationWaterPayment Card March 2015£479£479
26 August 2014Office CostsConst Office Tel. Usage/RentalPayment Card August/Sept 2014£459£459
19 May 2014Office CostsConst Office Tel. Usage/RentalPayment Card May 2014£441£441

Claims refused and money repaid, 2014-15

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £20 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