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, 2017-18

132 claims, £177,295 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.	1	£135,459	76.4%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	69	£21,554	12.2%
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.	61	£15,095	8.5%
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	£5,187	2.9%

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.

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, 2017-18

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£135,459

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	3	£6,650
Professional Services: Direct	1	£4,800
Stationery Purchase	18	£3,591
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	19	£2,522
Security	2	£1,002
Computer HW Purchase	1	£788

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	12	£11,940
Council Tax	12	£1,809
Gas	13	£922
Telephone Usage/Rental	12	£284
Water	12	£141

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£5,187

Largest claims, 2017-18

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 2018	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year	£135,459	£135,459
1 April 2017	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	[***]	£6,425	£6,425
31 March 2018	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2017-18	£5,187	£5,187
5 July 2017	Office Costs	Professional Services: Direct	PRS	£4,800	£4,800
23 February 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£995	£995
26 January 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£995	£995
21 December 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£995	£995
24 November 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£995	£995
29 October 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£995	£995
29 September 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£995	£995
29 August 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£995	£995
27 July 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£995	£995
27 June 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£995	£995
25 May 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£995	£995
25 April 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£995	£995

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