MPs’ business costs
Mrs Sharon Hodgson
IPSA paid £3,163,569 against 3,892 published rows for Mrs Sharon Hodgson between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Washington and Sunderland West BC, then Washington and Gateshead South 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, 2025-26
40 claims, £9,140 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 26 | £5,982 | 65.5% |
| 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. | 14 | £3,158 | 34.5% |
Every year in the register
Mrs Sharon Hodgson’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2010-11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-11 | 281 | £95,553 | £16,202 | £19,712 | £10,604 | £1,602 | £143,673 |
| 2011-12 | 264 | £114,965 | £23,123 | £23,897 | £13,778 | — | £175,763 |
| 2012-13 | 344 | £127,655 | £22,044 | £19,368 | £12,659 | — | £181,726 |
| 2013-14 | 868 | £137,371 | £22,261 | £20,671 | £15,014 | — | £195,316 |
| 2014-15 | 426 | £137,145 | £22,900 | £18,912 | £12,794 | — | £191,751 |
| 2015-16 | 421 | £136,084 | £21,153 | £19,003 | £8,472 | — | £184,712 |
| 2016-17 | 129 | £136,220 | £21,751 | £20,797 | £11,512 | £1,835 | £192,114 |
| 2017-18 | 247 | £143,941 | £21,429 | £21,732 | £9,644 | — | £196,746 |
| 2018-19 | 120 | £150,694 | £23,449 | £20,631 | £12,583 | — | £207,356 |
| 2019-20 | 156 | £154,022 | £24,433 | £21,243 | £12,703 | — | £212,400 |
| 2020-21 | 104 | £177,167 | £20,830 | £20,236 | £-109 | — | £218,124 |
| 2021-22 | 113 | £174,530 | £24,988 | £22,717 | £11,455 | — | £233,690 |
| 2022-23 | 137 | £202,560 | £24,225 | £22,565 | £14,251 | — | £263,602 |
| 2023-24 | 129 | £220,157 | £23,103 | £21,580 | £10,199 | — | £275,039 |
| 2024-25 | 113 | £224,704 | £22,977 | £23,609 | £11,128 | — | £282,418 |
| 2025-26 | 40 | — | £5,982 | £3,158 | — | — | £9,140 |
A year in which Mrs Sharon Hodgson 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.
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Landline phone & internet - rental & usage | 3 | £1,676 |
| Stationery & printing | 6 | £1,065 |
| Mobile telephone - contract & usage | 9 | £1,032 |
| Software & applications | 1 | £738 |
| Equipment - purchase | 3 | £430 |
| Postage & couriers | 1 | £403 |
Accommodation
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Utilities | 13 | £1,855 |
| Council tax | 1 | £1,303 |
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.
| Date | Category | Cost type | Description | Claimed | Paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 April 2025 | Accommodation | Council tax | LONDON BOROUGH OF LAMB | £1,303 | £1,303 |
| 1 April 2025 | Accommodation | Utilities | Water | £1,001 | £1,001 |
| 15 January 2026 | Office Costs | Software & applications | 2026 01 15 caseworker software subscription | £738 | £738 |
| 23 April 2025 | Office Costs | Landline phone & internet - rental & usage | Landline | £568 | £568 |
| 9 July 2025 | Office Costs | Landline phone & internet - rental & usage | Landline | £566 | £566 |
| 9 October 2025 | Office Costs | Mobile telephone - contract & usage | 2025 10 09 telephone and line rental | £549 | £549 |
| 9 January 2026 | Office Costs | Landline phone & internet - rental & usage | Landline | £542 | £542 |
| 30 December 2025 | Office Costs | Postage & couriers | 2025 12 30 post redirect renewal | £403 | £403 |
| 11 June 2025 | Office Costs | Insurance - contents | 2025 06 11 office contents insurance | £310 | £310 |
| 19 December 2025 | Office Costs | Equipment - purchase | Office furniture | £295 | £295 |
| 8 July 2025 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | XMA August 2025 | £204 | £204 |
| 8 July 2025 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | XMA August 2025 | £204 | £204 |
| 8 July 2025 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | XMA August 2025 | £204 | £204 |
| 18 June 2025 | Office Costs | TV licence | 2025 06 18 TV Licence for constituency office | £175 | £175 |
| 18 November 2025 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | 2025 11 18 stationery purchase | £171 | £171 |
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 Mrs Sharon Hodgson 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 · Mrs Sharon Hodgson’s register of interests and votes · Sources