MPs’ business costs

Mr Richard Holden

IPSA paid £1,289,137 against 730 published rows for Mr Richard Holden between 2019-20 and 2025-26 as the member for North West Durham CC, then Basildon and Billericay 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

137 claims, £196,114 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.	4	£143,247	73.0%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	116	£29,887	15.2%
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.	12	£15,600	8.0%
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	£7,380	3.8%

Every year in the register

Mr Richard Holden’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	35	£17,601	£2,499	£2,125	£2,801	—	£25,025
2020-21	137	£143,247	£29,887	£15,600	£7,380	—	£196,114
2021-22	110	£158,341	£22,457	£22,276	£13,200	—	£216,275
2022-23	129	£185,535	£29,020	£22,889	£12,011	—	£249,455
2023-24	103	£183,055	£27,918	£23,452	£14,343	—	£248,768
2024-25	154	£234,964	£40,088	£32,309	£6,845	£22,688	£336,893
2025-26	62	—	£12,009	£2,478	—	£2,119	£16,607

A year in which Mr Richard Holden 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	£141,931
Training - staff	3	£1,316

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	6	£12,531
Equipment - purchase	11	£3,686
Stationery & printing	65	£3,437
Pooled staffing services	1	£3,050
Utilities	9	£1,849
Bought-in services	2	£1,624

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	8	£14,733
Council tax	1	£542
Utilities	2	£324
MP Budget Overspend	1	£0

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Mileage - car	3	£7,032
Congestion charge & toll	1	£180
Rail	1	£167

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	£141,931	£141,931
31 March 2021	MP Travel	Mileage - car	Aggregated figure for travel during 2020-21	£6,337	£6,337
5 May 2020	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Policy Research Unit (Conservative)	£3,050	£3,050
25 March 2021	Office Costs	Rent	—	£2,506	£2,506
30 December 2020	Office Costs	Rent	—	£2,506	£2,506
27 September 2020	Office Costs	Rent	—	£2,506	£2,506
22 July 2020	Office Costs	Rent	—	£2,506	£2,506
22 July 2020	Office Costs	Rent	—	£2,506	£2,506
11 March 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,842	£1,842
11 February 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,842	£1,842
12 January 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,842	£1,842
13 December 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,842	£1,842
10 November 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,842	£1,842
11 October 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,842	£1,842
13 September 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,842	£1,842

Claims refused and money repaid, 2020-21

5 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £750 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 Mr Richard Holden 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 · Mr Richard Holden’s register of interests and votes · Sources