MPs’ business costs
Sir Stephen Timms
IPSA paid £2,722,212 against 2,026 published rows for Sir Stephen Timms between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for East Ham 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, 2018-19
112 claims, £172,382 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. | 41 | £148,588 | 86.2% |
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 70 | £22,843 | 13.3% |
| 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. | 1 | £952 | 0.6% |
Every year in the register
Sir Stephen Timms’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 | 96 | £100,072 | £8,608 | £2,102 | £110,782 |
| 2011-12 | 156 | £115,588 | £15,481 | £309 | £131,378 |
| 2012-13 | 136 | £144,432 | £15,515 | £1,275 | £161,222 |
| 2013-14 | 228 | £140,047 | £20,496 | £2,253 | £162,796 |
| 2014-15 | 305 | £138,224 | £20,868 | £2,142 | £161,233 |
| 2015-16 | 81 | £139,038 | £23,176 | £830 | £163,043 |
| 2016-17 | 82 | £134,190 | £19,010 | £1,579 | £154,779 |
| 2017-18 | 107 | £150,424 | £19,920 | £734 | £171,078 |
| 2018-19 | 112 | £148,588 | £22,843 | £952 | £172,382 |
| 2019-20 | 140 | £140,653 | £22,422 | £854 | £163,930 |
| 2020-21 | 93 | £180,654 | £15,863 | £33 | £196,550 |
| 2021-22 | 125 | £175,815 | £24,070 | £215 | £200,099 |
| 2022-23 | 102 | £197,305 | £25,165 | £1,021 | £223,491 |
| 2023-24 | 119 | £228,654 | £26,726 | £809 | £256,189 |
| 2024-25 | 104 | £241,345 | £30,033 | £1,569 | £272,947 |
| 2025-26 | 40 | — | £20,312 | — | £20,312 |
A year in which Sir Stephen Timms 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, 2018-19
The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.
Staffing
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll | 1 | £147,965 |
| Public Tr UND Volunteer | 12 | £356 |
| Public Tr RAIL Volunteer - RT | 11 | £216 |
| Food & Drink Volunteer | 11 | £43 |
| Public Tr BUS Volunteer | 6 | £8 |
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting | 10 | £9,513 |
| Professional Services: Direct | 1 | £4,800 |
| Stationery Purchase | 25 | £2,804 |
| Computer HW Purchase | 3 | £2,546 |
| Training MP Staff | 3 | £1,412 |
| Computer SW Purchase | 4 | £1,030 |
Travel
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Aggregated Travel Costs | 1 | £952 |
Largest claims, 2018-19
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 2019 | Staffing | Payroll | Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year | £147,965 | £147,965 |
| 1 April 2018 | Office Costs | Professional Services: Direct | PRS | £4,800 | £4,800 |
| 21 February 2019 | Office Costs | Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting | Town Hall Hire | £4,020 | £4,020 |
| 25 March 2019 | Office Costs | Computer HW Purchase | Payment card | £1,390 | £1,390 |
| 31 July 2018 | Office Costs | Computer HW Purchase | Payment card: August | £1,135 | £1,135 |
| 14 January 2019 | Office Costs | Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting | Office costs | £1,080 | £1,080 |
| 22 March 2019 | Office Costs | Training MP Staff | Payment card | £1,008 | £1,008 |
| 31 March 2019 | Travel | Aggregated Travel Costs | Aggregated figure for travel during 2018-19 | £952 | £952 |
| 26 March 2019 | Office Costs | Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting | Trinity Centre hire | £900 | £900 |
| 1 November 2018 | Office Costs | Computer SW Purchase | Office costs | £850 | £850 |
| 11 March 2019 | Office Costs | Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting | Trinity Centre | £800 | £800 |
| 11 April 2018 | Office Costs | Stationery Purchase | Banner | £665 | £665 |
| 29 January 2019 | Office Costs | Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting | Office costs | £600 | £600 |
| 11 September 2018 | Office Costs | Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting | Office costs | £560 | £560 |
| 25 June 2018 | Office Costs | Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting | Office costs | £560 | £560 |
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 Sir Stephen Timms 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 · Sir Stephen Timms’s register of interests and votes · Sources