MPs’ business costs

Peter Dowd

IPSA paid £2,185,775 against 2,309 published rows for Peter Dowd between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Bootle 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, 2020-21

226 claims, £198,295 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.	18	£170,162	85.8%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	196	£25,611	12.9%
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.	7	£1,145	0.6%
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.	5	£1,378	0.7%

Every year in the register

Peter Dowd’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	Accommodation	Travel	Starting up and winding up	Miscellaneous	Total
2015-16	141	£123,571	£21,701	£10,061	£11,270	£6,000	—	£172,602
2016-17	179	£146,755	£23,397	£14,068	£16,865	—	—	£201,085
2017-18	223	£145,688	£23,792	£15,000	£8,623	—	—	£193,103
2018-19	220	£148,688	£23,893	£14,200	£14,990	—	£2,850	£204,621
2019-20	175	£153,779	£23,072	£7,613	£13,861	—	—	£198,325
2020-21	226	£170,162	£25,611	£1,145	£1,378	—	—	£198,295
2021-22	259	£192,888	£28,495	£4,235	£9,477	—	—	£235,094
2022-23	271	£169,912	£27,943	£9,791	£8,386	—	£890	£216,922
2023-24	282	£207,918	£33,389	£13,227	£9,450	—	—	£263,983
2024-25	216	£181,974	£30,918	£15,623	£14,211	—	£1,176	£243,902
2025-26	117	£28,391	£13,432	£16,018	—	—	—	£57,841

A year in which Peter Dowd 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, 2020-21

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£135,426
Bought-in services	13	£29,410
Pooled staffing services	1	£4,200
Health & welfare - staff	1	£569
Training - staff	2	£557

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	12	£10,083
Equipment - purchase	16	£2,445
Utilities	25	£2,149
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	12	£2,004
Cleaning services	49	£1,259
Waste disposal, confidential waste & rubbish collection	3	£1,141

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Hotel - London	7	£1,145

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	2	£1,253
Railcard	1	£70
Parking	1	£33
Mileage - car	1	£22

Largest claims, 2020-21

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 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£135,426	£135,426
19 March 2021	Staffing	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£6,000	£6,000
15 June 2020	Staffing	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£4,510	£4,510
15 January 2021	Staffing	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£4,290	£4,290
16 March 2021	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£4,200	£4,200
13 May 2020	Staffing	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£3,300	£3,300
21 April 2020	Staffing	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£2,200	£2,200
1 April 2020	Staffing	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£2,200	£2,200
5 March 2021	Staffing	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£1,870	£1,870
5 March 2021	Staffing	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£1,250	£1,250
16 September 2020	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Computer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories	£1,218	£1,218
31 March 2021	Office Costs	Working From Home Allowance	Aggregated figure for 2020-21	£1,092	£1,092
9 November 2020	Office Costs	Insurance - buildings	WWW.WRIGHTSURE.COM	£924	£924
2 March 2021	Office Costs	Rent	—	£917	£917
2 February 2021	Office Costs	Rent	—	£917	£917

Claims refused and money repaid, 2020-21

4 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £952 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 Peter Dowd 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 · Peter Dowd’s register of interests and votes · Sources