MPs’ business costs

Valerie Vaz

IPSA paid £2,517,115 against 2,243 published rows for Valerie Vaz between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Walsall South BC, then Walsall and Bloxwich 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, 2022-23

123 claims, £197,652 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.	3	£154,681	78.3%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	91	£25,571	12.9%
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.	24	£12,146	6.1%
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.	5	£5,254	2.7%

Every year in the register

Valerie Vaz’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	184	£73,797	£16,896	£9,818	£5,050	—	£105,562
2011-12	204	£113,787	£17,064	£9,378	£5,396	—	£145,625
2012-13	167	£129,250	£16,189	£9,652	£4,691	—	£159,782
2013-14	164	£122,356	£22,839	£8,690	£4,245	—	£158,131
2014-15	162	£110,553	£20,206	£9,928	£5,935	—	£146,623
2015-16	170	£111,635	£21,649	£7,139	£4,900	—	£145,323
2016-17	101	£113,386	£20,807	£8,973	£3,674	—	£146,840
2017-18	112	£134,163	£20,442	£9,043	£3,580	—	£167,228
2018-19	114	£136,837	£22,013	£9,291	£4,649	—	£172,790
2019-20	137	£149,736	£25,245	£11,636	£4,464	—	£191,081
2020-21	148	£145,719	£20,677	£9,279	£2,232	—	£177,907
2021-22	162	£149,059	£20,807	£11,386	£4,528	—	£185,780
2022-23	123	£154,681	£25,571	£12,146	£5,254	—	£197,652
2023-24	122	£142,873	£16,139	£17,842	£5,033	£263	£182,149
2024-25	123	£162,496	£31,615	£19,901	£3,660	£170	£217,841
2025-26	50	—	£12,185	£4,617	—	—	£16,802

A year in which Valerie Vaz 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, 2022-23

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£149,431
Pooled staffing services	1	£4,200
Training - staff	1	£1,050

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	4	£9,000
Utilities	8	£6,417
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	13	£2,864
Software & applications	13	£2,141
Stationery & printing	31	£1,584
Advertising and contact cards	2	£1,388

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	12	£9,000
Council tax	1	£1,698
Utilities	5	£1,199
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	6	£249

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Mileage - car	2	£4,644
Hotel - UK Not London	1	£322
Rail	2	£288

Largest claims, 2022-23

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 2023	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year	£149,431	£149,431
20 July 2022	Office Costs	Utilities	Electricity	£5,124	£5,124
18 May 2022	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£4,200	£4,200
31 March 2023	MP Travel	Mileage - car	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£4,180	£4,180
3 January 2023	Office Costs	Rent	rent due 25.3.23	£2,250	£2,250
3 October 2022	Office Costs	Rent	office rent due 25.12.22	£2,250	£2,250
27 June 2022	Office Costs	Rent	Rent due 29.9.22	£2,250	£2,250
5 April 2022	Office Costs	Rent	rent due 24.6.22	£2,250	£2,250
21 June 2022	Accommodation	Council tax	22/23 council tax bill	£1,698	£1,698
28 November 2022	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	bill dated 16.11.22	£1,188	£1,188
1 March 2023	Staffing	Training - staff	invoice dated 9.2.23 for 2 staff and MP	£1,050	£1,050
21 March 2023	Accommodation	Rent	rent due 21.4.23	£750	£750
23 February 2023	Accommodation	Rent	rent due 21.3.23	£750	£750
24 January 2023	Accommodation	Rent	rent due 21.2.23	£750	£750
3 January 2023	Accommodation	Rent	rent due 21.1.23	£750	£750

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 Valerie Vaz 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 · Valerie Vaz’s register of interests and votes · Sources