MPs’ business costs

Alison McGovern

IPSA paid £2,996,340 against 2,113 published rows for Alison McGovern between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Wirral South CC, then Birkenhead 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, 2025-26

16 claims, £4,575 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
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	15	£3,978	87.0%
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.	1	£597	13.0%

Every year in the register

Alison McGovern’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	152	£82,357	£17,285	£7,730	£4,295	£19	£111,686
2011-12	255	£115,281	£21,517	£10,360	£8,050	—	£155,208
2012-13	195	£136,094	£21,195	£23,651	£12,401	—	£193,340
2013-14	182	£134,551	£14,845	£22,763	£11,003	—	£183,163
2014-15	179	£123,108	£15,330	£22,142	£9,003	—	£169,583
2015-16	147	£139,404	£17,111	£19,257	£8,856	—	£184,627
2016-17	136	£131,039	£16,240	£17,153	£13,367	—	£177,798
2017-18	137	£147,496	£15,463	£16,431	£8,265	—	£187,655
2018-19	139	£128,083	£15,557	£19,187	£13,816	—	£176,642
2019-20	141	£95,441	£17,514	£17,683	£15,164	—	£145,802
2020-21	75	£180,184	£17,085	£17,995	£7,652	—	£222,916
2021-22	72	£187,481	£21,112	£20,214	£9,486	—	£238,293
2022-23	113	£204,033	£27,256	£18,050	£15,111	—	£264,449
2023-24	99	£225,732	£21,703	£18,699	£12,780	—	£278,914
2024-25	75	£242,832	£25,378	£20,194	£13,286	—	£301,690
2025-26	16	—	£3,978	£597	—	—	£4,575

A year in which Alison McGovern 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, 2025-26

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

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Software & applications	2	£1,746
Venue hire, meetings & surgeries	1	£1,081
Equipment - purchase	5	£494
Stationery & printing	1	£380
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	3	£278
Utilities	3	£0

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Hotel - London	1	£597

Largest claims, 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.

Date	Category	Cost type	Description	Claimed	Paid
29 July 2025	Office Costs	Software & applications	ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES	£1,476	£1,476
25 July 2025	Office Costs	Venue hire, meetings & surgeries	—	£1,081	£1,081
17 July 2025	Accommodation	Hotel - London	tenancy expired/delay in move	£597	£597
22 July 2025	Office Costs	Utilities	Water	£491	£491
8 September 2025	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	Banner October 2025	£380	£380
21 August 2025	Office Costs	Software & applications	CANVA [***]	£270	£270
9 February 2026	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Other office equipment	£173	£173
9 February 2026	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Other office equipment	£129	£129
16 June 2025	Office Costs	Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	Landline & internet package	£119	£119
3 July 2025	Office Costs	Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	Landline & internet package	£79	£79
14 April 2025	Office Costs	Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	Landline	£79	£79
24 October 2025	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Other office equipment	£75	£75
9 February 2026	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Other office equipment	£61	£61
9 February 2026	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Other office equipment	£56	£56
5 January 2026	Office Costs	Utilities	Water	£0	£0

Claims refused and money repaid, 2025-26

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £76 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 Alison McGovern 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 · Alison McGovern’s register of interests and votes · Sources