Civometry

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, 2023-24

173 claims, £263,046 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.1£200,13376.1%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.109£23,4868.9%
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.37£25,2909.6%
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.26£14,1375.4%

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, 2023-24

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£200,133

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent4£9,000
Stationery & printing30£4,369
Utilities10£2,972
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs14£1,487
Mobile telephone - contract & usage11£1,451
Software & applications2£1,074

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent7£14,950
Hotel - London24£8,321
Council tax2£1,914
Utilities3£80
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage1£25

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail6£9,153
Mileage - car3£1,948
Hotel - UK Not London2£720
Air travel1£697
Parking6£596
Other public transport4£449

Largest claims, 2023-24

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 2024StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year£200,133£200,133
31 March 2024MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2023-24£6,578£6,578
14 March 2024AccommodationRent—£2,492£2,492
13 February 2024AccommodationRent—£2,492£2,492
16 January 2024AccommodationRent—£2,492£2,492
14 December 2023AccommodationRent—£2,492£2,492
14 November 2023AccommodationRent—£2,492£2,492
2 April 2024Office CostsRent—£2,250£2,250
5 January 2024Office CostsRent—£2,250£2,250
3 October 2023Office CostsRent—£2,250£2,250
4 July 2023Office CostsRent—£2,250£2,250
13 October 2023AccommodationRent[***] - Matthew Perkins - [***] - First Months Rent - Faster Payment£1,917£1,917
31 March 2024MP TravelMileage - carAggregated figure for travel during 2023-24£1,440£1,440
31 March 2024Staff TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2023-24£1,369£1,369
4 March 2024AccommodationCouncil taxCouncil Tax - London£1,345£1,345

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