MPs’ business costs

Rachel Hopkins

IPSA paid £1,077,144 against 648 published rows for Rachel Hopkins between 2019-20 and 2025-26 as the member for Luton South BC, then Luton South and South Bedfordshire 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, 2019-20 to 2025-26

648 claims, £1,077,144 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.	12	£927,829	86.1%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	423	£104,970	9.7%
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.	183	£22,689	2.1%
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.	29	£20,744	1.9%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	1	£912	0.1%

Every year in the register

Rachel Hopkins’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.

Year	Claims	Staffing	Office costs	Accommodation	Travel	Miscellaneous	Total
2019-20	30	£12,484	£5,996	£99	£1,225	—	£19,804
2020-21	85	£147,624	£16,677	£2,491	£1,986	—	£168,778
2021-22	83	£174,802	£19,978	£1,929	£3,754	—	£200,464
2022-23	95	£176,442	£17,661	£3,698	£5,138	—	£202,939
2023-24	136	£191,858	£17,694	£4,589	£3,880	£912	£218,933
2024-25	146	£224,181	£19,602	£4,845	£4,761	—	£253,388
2025-26	73	£439	£7,362	£5,037	—	—	£12,837

A year in which Rachel Hopkins 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, 2019-20 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	6	£924,318
Training - staff	5	£3,061
Bought-in services	1	£450

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	14	£29,648
Pooled staffing services	9	£21,800
Stationery & printing	153	£10,183
Bought-in services	2	£10,000
Software & applications	141	£9,555
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	68	£7,514

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Hotel - London	183	£22,689

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	17	£17,967
Railcard	5	£2,205
Hotel - London	1	£175
Hotel - UK Not London	1	£138
Air travel	1	£116
Other public transport	2	£110

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
IPSA RICS Valuation	1	£912

Largest claims, 2019-20 to 2025-26

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 2025	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year	£223,341	£223,341
31 March 2024	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year	£190,700	£190,700
31 March 2023	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year	£175,818	£175,818
31 March 2022	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£174,802	£174,802
31 March 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£147,624	£147,624
31 March 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£12,034	£12,034
31 March 2025	Office Costs	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25	£6,460	£6,460
31 March 2022	Office Costs	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£5,428	£5,428
18 April 2023	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Socialist Parliamentary Research Group (Labour)	£5,000	£5,000
27 April 2021	Office Costs	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£5,000	£5,000
31 March 2020	Office Costs	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£5,000	£5,000
12 April 2024	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£4,600	£4,600
19 April 2023	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£4,500	£4,500
18 May 2022	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£4,200	£4,200
31 March 2025	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2024-25	£4,183	£4,183

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 Rachel Hopkins 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 · Rachel Hopkins’s register of interests and votes · Sources