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, 2015-16
154 claims, £161,219 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. | 3 | £129,630 | 80.4% |
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 96 | £21,411 | 13.3% |
| 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. | 54 | £3,354 | 2.1% |
| 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. | 1 | £6,823 | 4.2% |
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, 2015-16
The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.
Staffing
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll | 1 | £129,534 |
| Public Tr RAIL Volunteer - SG | 2 | £96 |
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Const Office Rent | 1 | £6,425 |
| Professional Services: Direct | 1 | £4,800 |
| Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental | 20 | £2,837 |
| Stationery Purchase | 32 | £2,757 |
| Computer SW Purchase | 3 | £1,370 |
| Legal Exp/Emp Practice Insur. | 1 | £578 |
Accommodation
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Council Tax | 9 | £1,224 |
| Buildings Insurance | 12 | £891 |
| Gas | 11 | £870 |
| Telephone Usage/Rental | 11 | £248 |
| Water | 11 | £121 |
Travel
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Aggregated Travel Costs | 1 | £6,823 |
Largest claims, 2015-16
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 2016 | Staffing | Payroll | Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year | £129,534 | £129,534 |
| 31 March 2016 | Travel | Aggregated Travel Costs | Aggregated figure for travel during 2015-16 | £6,823 | £6,823 |
| 24 June 2015 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | — | £6,425 | £6,425 |
| 30 June 2015 | Office Costs | Professional Services: Direct | PRS | £4,800 | £4,800 |
| 18 March 2016 | Office Costs | Computer SW Purchase | Payment card Feb/March | £1,000 | £1,000 |
| 9 August 2015 | Office Costs | Legal Exp/Emp Practice Insur. | EPL | £578 | £578 |
| 31 October 2015 | Office Costs | Parliamentary Accountancy | Parliamentary accountancy work | £570 | £570 |
| 9 February 2016 | Office Costs | Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental | Payment card Jan Feb | £507 | £507 |
| 9 November 2015 | Office Costs | Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental | Payment card November | £467 | £467 |
| 6 August 2015 | Office Costs | Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental | Payment card July/August | £452 | £452 |
| 14 May 2015 | Office Costs | Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental | Payment card May 2015 | £450 | £450 |
| 28 January 2016 | Office Costs | Stationery Purchase | Office costs January February | £391 | £391 |
| 10 June 2015 | Office Costs | Computer SW Purchase | Payment card June 2015 | £350 | £350 |
| 3 February 2016 | Office Costs | Stationery Purchase | Payment card Jan Feb | £259 | £259 |
| 23 September 2015 | Office Costs | Postage Purchase | Freepost Name Licence | £258 | £258 |
Claims refused and money repaid, 2015-16
3 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £115 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