MPs’ business costs

Tahir Ali

IPSA paid £1,086,398 against 666 published rows for Tahir Ali between 2019-20 and 2025-26 as the member for Birmingham, Hall Green BC, then Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley 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

35 claims, £15,594 paid. The headings are IPSA’s own categories grouped; the categories inside each are named on the register page.

CategoryWhat it coversClaimsPaidShare
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.30£12,23178.4%
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.5£3,36321.6%

Every year in the register

Tahir Ali’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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2019-2015£4,449£9,258£844£1,587£16,137
2020-2127£101,857£28,059£864£119£130,898
2021-22105£159,461£35,085£2,699£3,521£200,766
2022-23160£166,062£26,830£5,239£5,260£203,392
2023-24184£188,730£37,375£13,087£10,862£250,054
2024-25140£191,634£31,594£31,550£13,351£1,428£269,557
2025-2635£12,231£3,363£15,594

A year in which Tahir Ali 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 typeClaimsPaid
Stationery & printing9£4,978
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs2£3,783
Software & applications2£1,098
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage10£1,089
Moving Fees1£627
Equipment - purchase3£534

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Utilities2£1,563
Council tax1£1,271
Cleaning services1£311
Hotel - London1£217

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.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
28 April 2025Office CostsMaintenance, Redecorations & RepairsConstituency Office Door frames, removal and fitting of 8 doors£2,616£2,616
6 September 2025AccommodationUtilitiesElectricity£1,319£1,319
19 May 2025AccommodationCouncil taxWWW.WESTMINSTER.GOV.UK£1,271£1,271
19 April 2025Office CostsMaintenance, Redecorations & RepairsBUYWISE DIY LTD£1,167£1,167
7 March 2026Office CostsStationery & printingBanner March 2026£1,139£1,139
7 March 2026Office CostsStationery & printingBanner March 2026£1,081£1,081
7 March 2026Office CostsStationery & printingBanner March 2026£1,081£1,081
7 March 2026Office CostsStationery & printingBanner March 2026£1,081£1,081
5 April 2025Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES£738£738
31 March 2025Office CostsMoving FeesLegal costs£627£627
26 January 2026Office CostsStationery & printingBanner February 2026£360£360
2 September 2025Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES£360£360
17 September 2025Office CostsEquipment - purchaseOther office equipment£360£360
12 November 2025AccommodationCleaning serviceshandind the flat back on 19/11/25£311£311
19 May 2025AccommodationUtilitiesElectricity£245£245

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 Tahir Ali 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 · Tahir Ali’s register of interests and votes · Sources