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, 2018-19

149 claims, £203,603 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.	1	£148,393	72.9%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	119	£17,188	8.4%
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.	28	£24,333	12.0%
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	£13,689	6.7%

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.

Year	Claims	Staffing	Office costs	Accommodation	Travel	Miscellaneous	Total
2010-11	99	£75,754	£16,243	£18,592	£5,149	—	£115,737
2011-12	97	£109,201	£15,591	£17,012	£8,795	£267	£150,865
2012-13	154	£125,960	£15,341	£19,962	£10,062	—	£171,325
2013-14	203	£123,607	£18,546	£21,374	£9,621	—	£173,149
2014-15	158	£136,985	£19,023	£20,752	£10,447	—	£187,206
2015-16	139	£131,083	£14,809	£22,974	£12,266	—	£181,131
2016-17	134	£122,444	£12,465	£24,478	£11,766	—	£171,153
2017-18	150	£142,258	£16,985	£24,613	£10,578	—	£194,433
2018-19	149	£148,393	£17,188	£24,333	£13,689	—	£203,603
2019-20	188	£155,900	£20,527	£17,831	£12,426	—	£206,683
2020-21	156	£165,874	£20,302	£23,046	£6,239	—	£215,460
2021-22	194	£175,579	£25,631	£17,674	£15,362	—	£234,247
2022-23	209	£185,238	£26,676	£15,805	£11,108	—	£238,828
2023-24	173	£200,133	£23,486	£25,290	£14,137	—	£263,046
2024-25	153	£229,541	£27,869	£31,140	£18,028	—	£306,578
2025-26	68	—	£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, 2018-19

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£148,393

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	4	£5,200
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	38	£2,447
Const Office Electricity	4	£1,747
Stationery Purchase	15	£1,656
Install/Maint Office Equip.	5	£1,523
Computer HW Purchase	1	£1,173

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	13	£22,106
Council Tax	1	£1,089
Gas	6	£554
Electricity	5	£364
Telephone Usage/Rental	1	£113
Water	2	£107

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£13,689

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	£148,393	£148,393
31 March 2019	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2018-19	£13,689	£13,689
7 February 2019	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
19 December 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,842	£1,842
29 November 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,842	£1,842
31 October 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,842	£1,842
3 October 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,842	£1,842
31 August 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,842	£1,842
1 August 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,842	£1,842
4 July 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,842	£1,842
5 June 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,842	£1,842
3 May 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,842	£1,842
3 April 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,842	£1,842
26 February 2019	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,761	£1,761
19 December 2018	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,300	£1,300

Claims refused and money repaid, 2018-19

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £35 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