MPs’ business costs

Saqib Bhatti

IPSA paid £1,176,808 against 664 published rows for Saqib Bhatti between 2019-20 and 2025-26 as the member for Meriden CC, then Meriden and Solihull East 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, 2021-22

63 claims, £214,425 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.	2	£153,310	71.5%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	48	£27,905	13.0%
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.	2	£27,545	12.8%
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.	11	£5,665	2.6%

Every year in the register

Saqib Bhatti’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	Total
2019-20	68	£19,342	£3,592	£8,623	£2,747	£34,304
2020-21	83	£141,874	£18,322	£23,278	£3,683	£187,158
2021-22	63	£153,310	£27,905	£27,545	£5,665	£214,425
2022-23	118	£168,489	£17,915	£24,060	£10,711	£221,174
2023-24	154	£158,524	£29,477	£29,497	£9,219	£226,718
2024-25	111	£196,156	£19,108	£41,387	£9,918	£266,569
2025-26	67	£1,399	£18,452	£6,608	—	£26,460

A year in which Saqib Bhatti 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, 2021-22

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£150,318
Pooled staffing services	1	£2,992

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	1	£9,800
Equipment - purchase	6	£7,755
Stationery & printing	12	£2,410
Business rates	2	£2,053
Software & applications	5	£1,024
Equipment - hire	1	£1,020

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	1	£26,489
Council tax	1	£1,056

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	2	£2,442
Mileage - car	3	£2,345
Congestion charge & toll	1	£385
Hotel - UK Not London	2	£349
Taxi	2	£128
Subsistence	1	£15

Largest claims, 2021-22

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 2022	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£150,318	£150,318
31 March 2022	Accommodation	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£26,489	£26,489
31 March 2022	Office Costs	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£9,800	£9,800
29 March 2021	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Other office equipment	£5,749	£5,749
7 April 2021	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Policy Research Unit (Conservative)	£2,992	£2,992
31 March 2022	MP Travel	Mileage - car	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£1,915	£1,915
7 January 2022	Office Costs	Business rates	Business rates for constituency office 01 April 2021 - 31 March 2022	£1,647	£1,647
31 March 2022	Staff Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£1,626	£1,626
21 March 2022	Accommodation	Council tax	Council Tax for London accommodation	£1,056	£1,056
25 March 2021	Office Costs	Equipment - hire	Other office equipment	£1,020	£1,020
29 April 2021	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Office furniture	£879	£879
31 March 2022	Office Costs	Working From Home Allowance	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£865	£865
31 March 2022	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£816	£816
17 June 2021	Office Costs	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£780	£780
13 September 2021	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Computer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories	£720	£720

Claims refused and money repaid, 2021-22

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £228 not paid and £0 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 Saqib Bhatti 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 · Saqib Bhatti’s register of interests and votes · Sources