MPs’ business costs

Dame Siobhain McDonagh

IPSA paid £3,044,708 against 1,247 published rows for Dame Siobhain McDonagh between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Mitcham and Morden 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, 2010-11 to 2025-26

1,247 claims, £3,044,708 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.	235	£2,625,710	86.2%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	1,005	£416,845	13.7%
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.	7	£2,154	0.1%

Every year in the register

Dame Siobhain McDonagh’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	Travel	Total
2010-11	53	£99,106	£19,774	£529	£119,409
2011-12	73	£126,407	£22,929	£503	£149,839
2012-13	64	£142,704	£23,873	£469	£167,046
2013-14	138	£143,524	£24,234	£306	£168,064
2014-15	69	£144,991	£21,717	£200	£166,909
2015-16	42	£150,032	£18,716	£54	£168,801
2016-17	66	£148,500	£25,764	—	£174,264
2017-18	108	£160,330	£25,238	£92	£185,659
2018-19	92	£164,460	£27,227	—	£191,687
2019-20	106	£166,669	£28,695	—	£195,364
2020-21	56	£203,762	£22,944	—	£226,706
2021-22	62	£215,697	£33,299	—	£248,996
2022-23	62	£236,802	£23,988	—	£260,791
2023-24	72	£252,576	£34,299	—	£286,875
2024-25	106	£256,100	£39,609	—	£295,709
2025-26	78	£14,050	£24,538	—	£38,588

A year in which Dame Siobhain McDonagh 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, 2010-11 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	15	£2,453,109
Professional Services (Staff.)	38	£89,753
Bought-in services	46	£81,000
Training - staff	2	£1,560
Volunteer - agreed arrangement costs	48	£189
Food & Drink Int/Volntr	16	£70

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	107	£111,888
Rent	73	£76,050
Stationery & printing	123	£38,140
Stationery Purchase	198	£28,678
Postage & couriers	29	£22,384
Software & applications	125	£19,613

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	7	£2,154

Largest claims, 2010-11 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.

Date	Category	Cost type	Description	Claimed	Paid
31 March 2025	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year	£241,590	£241,590
31 March 2024	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year	£240,576	£240,576
31 March 2023	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year	£224,802	£224,802
31 March 2022	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£205,697	£205,697
31 March 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£193,762	£193,762
31 March 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£156,480	£156,480
31 March 2019	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year	£154,475	£154,475
31 March 2018	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year	£150,271	£150,271
31 March 2016	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year	£140,032	£140,032
31 March 2017	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year	£138,567	£138,567
31 March 2015	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2014-15 year	£134,991	£134,991
31 March 2014	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2013-14 year	£133,402	£133,402
31 March 2013	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2012-13 year	£132,554	£132,554
31 March 2012	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2011-12 year	£116,107	£116,107
31 March 2011	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2010-11 year	£89,803	£89,803

Claims refused and money repaid, 2010-11 to 2025-26

11 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £7,280 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 Dame Siobhain McDonagh 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 · Dame Siobhain McDonagh’s register of interests and votes · Sources