Civometry

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, 2011-12

194 claims, £150,082 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.45£108,94272.6%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.74£19,00012.7%
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.74£13,2538.8%
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£8,8875.9%

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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelStarting up and winding upMiscellaneousTotal
2010-11135£86,182£17,533£11,448£10,604——£125,766
2011-12194£108,942£19,000£13,253£8,887——£150,082
2012-13179£109,161£22,086£8,850£11,278——£151,375
2013-14259£126,182£19,443£3,947£10,502—£134£160,208
2014-15180£128,472£21,145£3,837£8,232——£161,686
2015-16154£129,630£21,411£3,354£6,823——£161,219
2016-17141£139,132£20,955£13,508£7,653—£1,405£182,653
2017-18132£135,459£21,554£15,095£5,187——£177,295
2018-19115£147,783£24,340£14,787£8,319——£195,229
2019-20183£106,696£11,976£11,098£5,950£33,711£4,725£174,156
2020-214—————£678£678
2024-25150£126,785£29,381£13,836£3,393——£173,395
2025-2680£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, 2011-12

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£108,713
Public Tr Bus Int/Volntr32£128
Public Tr RAIL Int/Volntr - RT7£83
Food & Drink Intern/Volunteer5£17

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Const Office Rent1£7,000
Stationery Purchase34£3,670
Computer HW Purchase2£1,981
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental8£1,948
Mobile Usage/Rental13£1,521
Other11£920

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Mortgage Interest12£10,071
Council Tax10£1,155
Buildings Insurance12£1,020
Gas12£452
Water16£224
Telephone Usage/Rental11£186

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Aggregated Travel Costs1£8,887

Largest claims, 2011-12

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 2012StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2011-12 year£108,713£108,713
31 March 2012TravelAggregated Travel CostsAggregated figure for travel during 2011-12£8,887£8,887
1 April 2011Office CostsConst Office RentConstituency office rent 11-12£7,000£7,000
7 July 2011Office CostsComputer HW PurchaseOffice Costs July£1,009£1,009
26 February 2012Office CostsComputer HW PurchaseOffice costs February£972£972
1 February 2012AccommodationMortgage InterestMarch Accommodation£839£839
3 January 2012AccommodationMortgage InterestFebruary Accommodation£839£839
8 December 2011AccommodationMortgage InterestJanuary 2012 Accommodation£839£839
9 November 2011AccommodationMortgage InterestDecember Accommodation claim£839£839
3 October 2011AccommodationMortgage InterestOctober accommodation£839£839
27 September 2011AccommodationMortgage InterestNovember accommodation£839£839
1 August 2011AccommodationMortgage InterestSeptember Accommodation£839£839
14 July 2011AccommodationMortgage InterestAugust Accommodation£839£839
16 June 2011AccommodationMortgage InterestJuly Accommodation£839£839
9 June 2011AccommodationMortgage InterestJune Accommodation£839£839

Claims refused and money repaid, 2011-12

4 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £72 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