MPs’ business costs

Sarah Hall

IPSA paid £211,981 against 65 published rows for Sarah Hall between 2024-25 and 2025-26 as the member for Warrington South 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, 2024-25 to 2025-26

65 claims, £211,981 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.5£158,05974.6%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.37£25,07611.8%
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.14£19,0899.0%
TravelJourneys 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.9£9,7574.6%

Every year in the register

Sarah Hall’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2024-25 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 costsAccommodationTravelTotal
2024-2545£158,059£16,258£19,089£9,757£203,162
2025-2620£8,818£8,818

A year in which Sarah Hall 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, 2024-25 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£151,459
Training - staff3£3,600
Pooled staffing services1£3,000

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent1£7,703
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs3£5,339
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage9£4,077
Software & applications6£4,069
Stationery & printing13£2,518
Moving Fees1£630

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent1£12,801
Hotel - London13£6,288

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail6£7,092
Hotel - London2£2,631
Subsistence1£33

Largest claims, 2024-25 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.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
31 March 2025StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year£151,459£151,459
31 March 2025AccommodationRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£12,801£12,801
4 April 2025Office CostsRentFormer Coroner Office [***] [200011666-0]£7,703£7,703
31 March 2025MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£5,501£5,501
28 March 2025Office CostsMaintenance, Redecorations & RepairsTake up existing damaged old floor tiles, dispose of and replace with new ones [200011782-166]£4,483£4,483
3 October 2024StaffingPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£3,000£3,000
31 March 2025Staff TravelHotel - LondonAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£1,857£1,857
15 June 2025Office CostsSoftware & applicationsCasework System Renewal£1,476£1,476
27 March 2025StaffingTraining - staffTraining on 25 Feb and 4 and 6th March and 18th March [200011782-168]£1,440£1,440
19 July 2024Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES£1,440£1,440
31 March 2025Office CostsStationery & printingPrinter Ink£1,143£1,143
31 March 2025Staff TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£1,117£1,117
27 March 2025StaffingTraining - staffTraining on 27 Feb 11, and 13 March [200011782-169]£1,080£1,080
27 March 2025StaffingTraining - staffTraining on 20, 25 and 27 March [200011782-170]£1,080£1,080
22 July 2024AccommodationHotel - London[***][***][***]£849£849

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 Sarah Hall 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 · Sarah Hall’s register of interests and votes · Sources