MPs’ business costs

Vicky Foxcroft

IPSA paid £2,016,005 against 1,026 published rows for Vicky Foxcroft between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Lewisham, Deptford BC, then Lewisham North 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, 2015-16 to 2025-26

1,026 claims, £2,016,005 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.45£1,790,40888.8%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.949£219,08210.9%
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.7£1,0230.1%
Starting up and winding upThe one-off costs of opening an office on election and of closing one on leaving. These fall in the years around a general election and are absent from the rest.25£5,4920.3%

Every year in the register

Vicky Foxcroft’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2015-16 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 costsTravelStarting up and winding upTotal
2015-1693£114,104£14,729£4,683£133,516
2016-1786£134,642£20,254£809£155,705
2017-1896£150,042£18,483£168,525
2018-1995£156,077£19,215£351£175,643
2019-20110£153,900£20,488£-156£174,231
2020-2199£196,496£21,153£217,649
2021-2295£206,412£25,952£232,364
2022-2394£206,834£18,031£143£225,008
2023-2495£220,212£20,555£240,767
2024-25112£251,688£27,778£685£280,151
2025-2651£12,445£12,445

A year in which Vicky Foxcroft 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, 2015-16 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll10£1,780,192
Training - staff31£9,075
Practice Liability Insurance1£657
Professional Services (Staff.)1£390
Health & welfare - staff1£69
Health and Welfare Costs1£25

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent50£35,500
Pooled staffing services6£24,700
Const Office Rent47£21,423
Professional Services: Direct4£18,400
Utilities67£13,758
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs22£12,295

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail4£550
Aggregated Travel Costs1£351
Taxi1£119
Other public transport1£3

Starting up and winding up

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Office Alterations StartUp11£3,226
Install Office Equip. StartUp4£687
Office Furn Purch StartUp4£586
Comp SW Purch StartUp1£525
Office Cleaning StartUp2£369
Comp HW Purch StartUp1£45

Largest claims, 2015-16 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£251,688£251,688
31 March 2024StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year£220,212£220,212
31 March 2022StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year£204,125£204,125
31 March 2023StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year£203,078£203,078
31 March 2021StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year£193,395£193,395
31 March 2019StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year£156,052£156,052
31 March 2020StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year£153,900£153,900
31 March 2018StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year£149,652£149,652
31 March 2017StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year£134,642£134,642
31 March 2016StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2015-16 year£113,447£113,447
31 March 2025Office CostsRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£6,000£6,000
31 March 2022Office CostsRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22£6,000£6,000
1 April 2018Office CostsProfessional Services: DirectPRS£4,800£4,800
28 April 2017Office CostsProfessional Services: DirectPRS£4,800£4,800
29 April 2016Office CostsProfessional Services: DirectPRS£4,800£4,800

Claims refused and money repaid, 2015-16 to 2025-26

5 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £143 not paid and £836 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 Vicky Foxcroft 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 · Vicky Foxcroft’s register of interests and votes · Sources