MPs’ business costs

Andy Slaughter

IPSA paid £3,009,489 against 1,167 published rows for Andy Slaughter between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Hammersmith BC, then Hammersmith and Chiswick 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, 2016-17

58 claims, £167,169 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£140,26283.9%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.56£25,24215.1%
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.1£1,6641.0%

Every year in the register

Andy Slaughter’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 costsTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2010-1167£113,667£24,105£1,151£138,923
2011-12130£142,600£23,752£2,145£168,496
2012-13145£141,377£24,502£2,121£168,001
2013-1492£154,800£25,036£1,771£181,607
2014-1573£145,180£24,810£1,798£171,787
2015-1660£143,767£25,811£1,598£171,176
2016-1758£140,262£25,242£1,664£167,169
2017-1862£134,906£23,667£1,478£160,051
2018-1968£150,079£25,038£1,597£176,714
2019-2049£160,041£19,699£1,650£181,390
2020-2151£204,726£26,657£976£232,358
2021-2248£217,810£25,390£862£17,302£261,364
2022-2377£236,905£27,178£890£4,803£269,776
2023-2475£246,478£21,931£116£268,524
2024-2580£257,728£28,199£74£286,001
2025-2632£6,151£6,151

A year in which Andy Slaughter 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, 2016-17

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£140,262

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Const Office Rent4£14,673
Business Rates1£3,267
Const Office Cleaning11£1,390
Stationery Purchase15£1,339
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental13£1,332
Computer HW Purchase1£931

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Aggregated Travel Costs1£1,664

Largest claims, 2016-17

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 2017StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year£140,262£140,262
17 October 2016Office CostsConst Office RentConstituency Office Rent£10,875£10,875
17 March 2017Office CostsConst Office RentConstituency office rent£3,625£3,625
17 March 2017Office CostsBusiness RatesBusiness Rates£3,267£3,267
31 March 2017TravelAggregated Travel CostsAggregated figure for travel during 2016-17£1,664£1,664
16 March 2017Office CostsComputer HW PurchaseComputer£931£931
17 March 2017Office CostsConst Office Tel. Usage/RentalConstituency phone bills£770£770
17 March 2017Office CostsConst Office ElectricityUtilities£614£614
16 August 2016Office CostsComputer SW PurchaseCaseworker.MP£500£500
31 October 2016Office CostsConst Office CleaningConstituency Office Clean£390£390
28 November 2016Office CostsStationery PurchaseViking£325£325
17 March 2017Office CostsWaste DisposalTrade Waste£260£260
21 March 2017Office CostsConst Office Buildings Insur.Buildings Insurance£240£240
28 October 2016Office CostsStationery PurchaseViking£167£167
1 February 2017Office CostsVenue Hire Surgery/Meeting£160£160

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 Andy Slaughter 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 · Andy Slaughter’s register of interests and votes · Sources