MPs’ business costs
Sir Oliver Dowden
IPSA paid £1,617,942 against 436 published rows for Sir Oliver Dowden between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Hertsmere CC. 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
32 claims, £169,133 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 | £161,494 | 95.5% |
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 30 | £5,771 | 3.4% |
| 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 | £1,868 | 1.1% |
Every year in the register
Sir Oliver Dowden’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2015-16 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 | Starting up and winding up | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-16 | 43 | £85,758 | £5,393 | £671 | £2,628 | £94,450 |
| 2016-17 | 44 | £137,549 | £10,691 | £1,187 | — | £149,427 |
| 2017-18 | 32 | £161,494 | £5,771 | £1,868 | — | £169,133 |
| 2018-19 | 32 | £137,675 | £7,178 | £1,071 | — | £145,924 |
| 2019-20 | 75 | £155,315 | £9,353 | £653 | — | £165,321 |
| 2020-21 | 24 | £142,552 | £11,678 | £71 | — | £154,301 |
| 2021-22 | 19 | £156,377 | £6,317 | £361 | — | £163,055 |
| 2022-23 | 35 | £151,205 | £6,417 | £372 | — | £157,993 |
| 2023-24 | 44 | £181,587 | £6,283 | £246 | — | £188,116 |
| 2024-25 | 56 | £215,068 | £10,461 | £415 | — | £225,945 |
| 2025-26 | 32 | — | £4,277 | — | — | £4,277 |
A year in which Sir Oliver Dowden 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 | £161,494 |
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Professional Services: Direct | 1 | £2,672 |
| Stationery Purchase | 12 | £1,031 |
| Computer SW Purchase | 1 | £900 |
| Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting | 7 | £582 |
| Newspapers/Journals | 4 | £512 |
| Other Equip Purchase | 2 | £70 |
Travel
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Aggregated Travel Costs | 1 | £1,868 |
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 | £161,494 | £161,494 |
| 27 April 2017 | Office Costs | Professional Services: Direct | PRU | £2,672 | £2,672 |
| 31 March 2018 | Travel | Aggregated Travel Costs | Aggregated figure for travel during 2017-18 | £1,868 | £1,868 |
| 27 April 2017 | Office Costs | Computer SW Purchase | PRU | £900 | £900 |
| 25 October 2017 | Office Costs | Stationery Purchase | Oct / Nov 2017 IPSA card usage | £728 | £728 |
| 19 December 2017 | Office Costs | Stationery Purchase | IPSA card use Dec 2017 | £383 | £383 |
| 20 October 2017 | Office Costs | Newspapers/Journals | IPSA credit card use Oct 2017 | £198 | £198 |
| 8 January 2018 | Office Costs | Newspapers/Journals | IPSA card use January 2018 | £174 | £174 |
| 16 October 2017 | Office Costs | Newspapers/Journals | IPSA credit card use Oct 2017 | £166 | £166 |
| 28 March 2018 | Office Costs | Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting | — | £100 | £100 |
| 24 October 2017 | Office Costs | Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting | — | £96 | £96 |
| 30 June 2017 | Office Costs | Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting | — | £96 | £96 |
| 20 April 2017 | Office Costs | Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting | — | £96 | £96 |
| 18 September 2017 | Office Costs | Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting | — | £95 | £95 |
| 18 October 2017 | Office Costs | Stationery Purchase | Banner | £80 | £80 |
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 Sir Oliver Dowden 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 · Sir Oliver Dowden’s register of interests and votes · Sources