MPs’ business costs

Dame Meg Hillier

IPSA paid £2,723,291 against 2,085 published rows for Dame Meg Hillier between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Hackney South and Shoreditch 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, 2016-17

110 claims, £154,461 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.	50	£143,985	93.2%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	54	£8,782	5.7%
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	£71	0.0%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	5	£1,622	1.1%

Every year in the register

Dame Meg Hillier’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	Travel	Miscellaneous	Total
2010-11	47	£106,747	£5,977	£846	£51	£113,621
2011-12	113	£127,769	£15,253	£1,179	£449	£144,650
2012-13	149	£139,900	£16,540	£337	£3,750	£160,528
2013-14	355	£151,754	£11,848	£496	—	£164,099
2014-15	324	£148,257	£13,647	£760	£1,646	£164,310
2015-16	133	£141,288	£9,628	£212	£2,646	£153,774
2016-17	110	£143,985	£8,782	£71	£1,622	£154,461
2017-18	112	£146,330	£18,359	£179	—	£164,868
2018-19	124	£158,498	£16,267	£27	—	£174,792
2019-20	96	£153,997	£21,481	£26	—	£175,504
2020-21	84	£174,304	£8,019	—	—	£182,323
2021-22	60	£180,917	£7,692	—	—	£188,610
2022-23	99	£194,459	£13,432	£29	—	£207,921
2023-24	107	£241,042	£12,610	—	—	£253,652
2024-25	104	£262,132	£11,964	—	—	£274,096
2025-26	68	£13,200	£32,885	—	—	£46,085

A year in which Dame Meg Hillier 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, 2016-17

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£143,565
Public Tr UND Volunteer	19	£236
Food & Drink Volunteer	29	£160
Health and Welfare Costs	1	£25

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Professional Services	6	£4,134
Stationery Purchase	20	£1,924
Computer HW Purchase	1	£931
Computer SW Purchase	2	£750
Advertising	1	£399
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	12	£298

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£71

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Contingency	5	£1,622

Largest claims, 2016-17

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 2017	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year	£143,565	£143,565
3 April 2016	Office Costs	Professional Services	Office Support	£1,200	£1,200
22 October 2016	Office Costs	Professional Services	Office support	£1,080	£1,080
27 March 2017	Office Costs	Computer HW Purchase	April Statement	£931	£931
5 July 2016	Office Costs	Professional Services	Office support	£900	£900
18 August 2016	Office Costs	Professional Services	Office Support	£840	£840
9 February 2017	Office Costs	Stationery Purchase	XMA Ltd	£476	£476
7 November 2016	Office Costs	Computer SW Purchase	Computer software	£400	£400
21 November 2016	Office Costs	Advertising	Advice surgery calendars	£399	£399
27 May 2016	Office Costs	Computer SW Purchase	Computer software	£350	£350
30 September 2016	Miscellaneous Expenses	Contingency	Surgery security	£324	£324
31 July 2016	Miscellaneous Expenses	Contingency	Surgery security	£324	£324
30 June 2016	Miscellaneous Expenses	Contingency	Surgery security	£324	£324
31 May 2016	Miscellaneous Expenses	Contingency	Surgery security	£324	£324
30 April 2016	Miscellaneous Expenses	Contingency	Surgery Security	£324	£324

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 Dame Meg Hillier 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 · Dame Meg Hillier’s register of interests and votes · Sources