MPs’ business costs

Mr Toby Perkins

IPSA paid £3,033,164 against 2,424 published rows for Mr Toby Perkins between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Chesterfield 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

2,424 claims, £3,033,164 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.156£2,227,94973.5%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.1,666£307,37210.1%
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.456£327,90410.8%
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.142£169,6735.6%
MiscellaneousClaims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.4£2670.0%

Every year in the register

Mr Toby Perkins’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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2010-1199£75,754£16,243£18,592£5,149£115,737
2011-1297£109,201£15,591£17,012£8,795£267£150,865
2012-13154£125,960£15,341£19,962£10,062£171,325
2013-14203£123,607£18,546£21,374£9,621£173,149
2014-15158£136,985£19,023£20,752£10,447£187,206
2015-16139£131,083£14,809£22,974£12,266£181,131
2016-17134£122,444£12,465£24,478£11,766£171,153
2017-18150£142,258£16,985£24,613£10,578£194,433
2018-19149£148,393£17,188£24,333£13,689£203,603
2019-20188£155,900£20,527£17,831£12,426£206,683
2020-21156£165,874£20,302£23,046£6,239£215,460
2021-22194£175,579£25,631£17,674£15,362£234,247
2022-23209£185,238£26,676£15,805£11,108£238,828
2023-24173£200,133£23,486£25,290£14,137£263,046
2024-25153£229,541£27,869£31,140£18,028£306,578
2025-2668£16,689£3,031£19,720

A year in which Mr Toby Perkins 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 typeClaimsPaid
Payroll15£2,203,696
Professional Services (Staff.)4£11,656
Public Tr UND Volunteer26£2,654
Practice Liability Insurance3£2,578
Pooled staffing services1£2,300
Staff Training Costs3£1,218

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Const Office Rent38£49,391
Rent17£47,950
Stationery Purchase232£28,275
Utilities90£25,934
Stationery & printing210£24,777
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs90£12,886

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Accommodation Rent113£173,687
Rent37£97,615
Hotel - London67£23,941
Council Tax12£10,187
Council tax5£7,089
Utilities47£3,579

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Aggregated Travel Costs9£92,373
Rail29£47,266
Mileage - car19£8,400
Hotel - UK Not London7£6,382
Hotel - London6£5,726
Parking28£3,807

Miscellaneous

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Contingency4£267

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.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
31 March 2025StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year£227,241£227,241
31 March 2024StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year£200,133£200,133
31 March 2023StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year£185,238£185,238
31 March 2022StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year£175,579£175,579
31 March 2021StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year£165,874£165,874
31 March 2020StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year£155,600£155,600
31 March 2019StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year£148,393£148,393
31 March 2015StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2014-15 year£134,851£134,851
31 March 2016StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2015-16 year£129,222£129,222
31 March 2018StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year£128,003£128,003
31 March 2013StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2012-13 year£125,134£125,134
31 March 2014StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2013-14 year£122,087£122,087
31 March 2017StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year£121,386£121,386
31 March 2012StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2011-12 year£109,201£109,201
31 March 2011StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2010-11 year£75,754£75,754

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

9 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £87 not paid and £1,444 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 Mr Toby Perkins 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 · Mr Toby Perkins’s register of interests and votes · Sources