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, 2025-26

73 claims, £12,837 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£4393.4%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.37£7,36257.3%
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.35£5,03739.2%

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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2019-2030£12,484£5,996£99£1,225£19,804
2020-2185£147,624£16,677£2,491£1,986£168,778
2021-2283£174,802£19,978£1,929£3,754£200,464
2022-2395£176,442£17,661£3,698£5,138£202,939
2023-24136£191,858£17,694£4,589£3,880£912£218,933
2024-25146£224,181£19,602£4,845£4,761£253,388
2025-2673£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, 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Training - staff1£439

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Stationery & printing14£2,496
Software & applications3£2,020
Utilities5£1,132
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage11£696
Equipment - purchase2£450
Insurance - contents1£394

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Hotel - London35£5,037

Largest claims, 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.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
31 December 2025Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES£1,476£1,476
8 August 2025Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES£480£480
20 June 2025StaffingTraining - staffPAYPAL PARLITRAINI£439£439
23 October 2025Office CostsInsurance - contentsHOWDEN UK BROKERS LIMI£394£394
22 February 2026Office CostsStationery & printingXMA March 2026£337£337
9 February 2026Office CostsUtilitiesElectricity£334£334
10 December 2025Office CostsUtilitiesElectricity£306£306
10 March 2026Office CostsStationery & printingBanner March 2026£294£294
9 January 2026Office CostsUtilitiesElectricity£276£276
1 January 2026Office CostsEquipment - purchaseOffice furniture£230£230
10 August 2025AccommodationHotel - London[***] [***]£221£221
31 December 2025Office CostsEquipment - purchaseOffice furniture£220£220
22 June 2025AccommodationHotel - London[***] [***]£209£209
16 February 2026Office CostsStationery & printingTHE RECEIPT BOOK COMPA£204£204
4 March 2026Office CostsStationery & printingXMA March 2026£204£204

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