MPs’ business costs

Mary Creagh

IPSA paid £1,851,128 against 1,906 published rows for Mary Creagh between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Wakefield CC, then Coventry East 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, 2010-11 to 2025-26

1,906 claims, £1,851,128 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.	187	£1,349,554	72.9%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	1,018	£258,448	14.0%
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.	607	£115,645	6.2%
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.	36	£86,829	4.7%
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.	46	£33,711	1.8%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	12	£6,942	0.4%

Every year in the register

Mary Creagh’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	Starting up and winding up	Miscellaneous	Total
2010-11	135	£86,182	£17,533	£11,448	£10,604	—	—	£125,766
2011-12	194	£108,942	£19,000	£13,253	£8,887	—	—	£150,082
2012-13	179	£109,161	£22,086	£8,850	£11,278	—	—	£151,375
2013-14	259	£126,182	£19,443	£3,947	£10,502	—	£134	£160,208
2014-15	180	£128,472	£21,145	£3,837	£8,232	—	—	£161,686
2015-16	154	£129,630	£21,411	£3,354	£6,823	—	—	£161,219
2016-17	141	£139,132	£20,955	£13,508	£7,653	—	£1,405	£182,653
2017-18	132	£135,459	£21,554	£15,095	£5,187	—	—	£177,295
2018-19	115	£147,783	£24,340	£14,787	£8,319	—	—	£195,229
2019-20	183	£106,696	£11,976	£11,098	£5,950	£33,711	£4,725	£174,156
2020-21	4	—	—	—	—	—	£678	£678
2024-25	150	£126,785	£29,381	£13,836	£3,393	—	—	£173,395
2025-26	80	£5,130	£29,625	£2,631	—	—	—	£37,387

A year in which Mary Creagh 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, 2010-11 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	11	£1,337,275
Pooled Services: Direct	1	£4,800
Bought-in services	3	£3,636
Training - staff	5	£2,320
Public Tr RAIL Int/Volntr - RT	31	£334
Public Tr RAIL Volunteer - SG	15	£185

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	12	£61,379
Professional Services: Direct	6	£28,800
Stationery Purchase	322	£28,773
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	150	£24,239
Equipment - purchase	26	£12,317
Stationery & printing	105	£11,926

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	34	£33,990
Mortgage Interest	28	£23,648
Rent	17	£19,320
Council Tax	92	£12,287
Gas	106	£8,818
Buildings Insurance	71	£6,128

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	9	£77,485
Rail	9	£8,225
Mileage - car	6	£495
Hotel - London	2	£374
Other public transport	4	£118
Parking	4	£69

Starting up and winding up

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£27,519
Removals	1	£1,860
Bought-in services	2	£1,246
Rail	17	£911
Hotel - UK Not London	5	£867
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	3	£814

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Redundancy	1	£2,100
Rent	1	£1,493
Removal Costs - Contingency	1	£1,405
Bought-in services	1	£678
Removals	2	£534
Utilities	2	£338

Largest claims, 2010-11 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 2019	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year	£147,783	£147,783
31 March 2017	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year	£138,973	£138,973
31 March 2018	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year	£135,459	£135,459
31 March 2016	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year	£129,534	£129,534
31 March 2015	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2014-15 year	£128,424	£128,424
31 March 2025	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year	£125,959	£125,959
31 March 2014	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2013-14 year	£120,932	£120,932
31 March 2013	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2012-13 year	£109,101	£109,101
31 March 2012	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2011-12 year	£108,713	£108,713
31 March 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£106,696	£106,696
31 March 2011	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2010-11 year	£85,700	£85,700
31 March 2020	Winding Up	Payroll	Total Winding Up budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£27,519	£27,519
31 March 2013	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2012-13	£11,278	£11,278
31 March 2011	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2010-11	£10,604	£10,604
31 March 2014	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2013-14	£10,502	£10,502

Claims refused and money repaid, 2010-11 to 2025-26

19 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £23 not paid and £1,995 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 Mary Creagh 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 · Mary Creagh’s register of interests and votes · Sources