MPs’ business costs

Nadia Whittome

IPSA paid £1,309,929 against 602 published rows for Nadia Whittome between 2019-20 and 2025-26 as the member for Nottingham 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, 2023-24

134 claims, £260,562 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.1£225,38186.5%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.98£25,2549.7%
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.25£5,1832.0%
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.10£4,7441.8%

Every year in the register

Nadia Whittome’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2019-20 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 costsAccommodationTravelTotal
2019-2032£20,997£702£79£1,996£23,774
2020-2157£190,479£31,473£16,136£812£238,901
2021-2285£200,488£25,557£7,600£1,462£235,107
2022-23110£221,574£24,341£7,782£2,998£256,695
2023-24134£225,381£25,254£5,183£4,744£260,562
2024-25119£239,717£25,858£13,179£6,122£284,876
2025-2665£8,089£1,927£10,015

A year in which Nadia Whittome 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, 2023-24

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£225,381

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent4£7,500
Pooled staffing services1£4,500
Business rates1£3,465
Utilities25£2,342
Waste disposal, confidential waste & rubbish collection19£1,678
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage12£1,371

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Service charge & ground Rent2£2,729
Utilities10£1,400
Council tax13£1,054

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail4£3,592
Hotel - London1£535
Hotel - UK Not London2£282
Air travel1£213
Mileage - car1£122
Hotel - European1£0

Largest claims, 2023-24

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 2024StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year£225,381£225,381
28 April 2023Office CostsPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£4,500£4,500
3 April 2023Office CostsBusiness ratesWWW.NOTTINGHAMCITY.GOV£3,465£3,465
31 March 2024MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2023-24£2,117£2,117
8 February 2024AccommodationService charge & ground RentLondon accommodation service charges£1,896£1,896
12 March 2024Office CostsRent£1,875£1,875
12 December 2023Office CostsRent£1,875£1,875
12 September 2023Office CostsRent£1,875£1,875
13 June 2023Office CostsRent£1,875£1,875
31 March 2024Staff TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2023-24£1,175£1,175
17 October 2022AccommodationService charge & ground RentLondon flat service charge and ground rent Oct 22- March 23£833£833
29 February 2024Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES£690£690
31 March 2024Staff TravelHotel - LondonAggregated figure for travel during 2023-24£535£535
5 October 2023Office CostsBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£510£510
18 May 2023Office CostsCleaning servicesConstituency office cleaning 27/03/23-23/05/2023£312£312

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 Nadia Whittome 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 · Nadia Whittome’s register of interests and votes · Sources