MPs’ business costs

Anneliese Dodds

IPSA paid £1,685,102 against 649 published rows for Anneliese Dodds between 2017-18 and 2025-26 as the member for Oxford East 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, 2021-22

65 claims, £214,050 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.4£183,44185.7%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.43£17,2488.1%
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.14£11,8025.5%
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.4£1,5600.7%

Every year in the register

Anneliese Dodds’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2017-18 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 costsAccommodationTravelTotal
2017-1854£99,175£10,911£11,478£1,639£123,204
2018-19103£144,606£24,694£14,415£4,078£187,793
2019-2045£161,116£15,554£12,674£1,429£190,773
2020-2185£177,333£20,879£11,549£3,130£212,891
2021-2265£183,441£17,248£11,802£1,560£214,050
2022-2356£200,846£19,195£8,850£2,839£231,730
2023-2484£221,512£20,483£6,049£4,338£252,382
2024-25105£230,130£27,261£1,800£2,139£261,330
2025-2652£9,881£1,068£10,949

A year in which Anneliese Dodds 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, 2021-22

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£180,393
Bought-in services3£3,048

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent4£7,027
Pooled staffing services1£2,100
Working From Home Allowance1£1,738
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage12£1,646
Cleaning services3£1,080
Software & applications4£983

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent1£9,105
Hotel - London10£1,910
Council tax1£612
Utilities2£174

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail3£1,555
Other public transport1£5

Largest claims, 2021-22

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 2022StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year£180,393£180,393
31 March 2022AccommodationRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22£9,105£9,105
27 April 2021Office CostsPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£2,100£2,100
30 March 2021StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£2,000£2,000
24 March 2022Office CostsRent£1,757£1,757
23 December 2021Office CostsRent£1,757£1,757
23 September 2021Office CostsRentRent£1,757£1,757
24 June 2021Office CostsRent£1,757£1,757
31 March 2022Office CostsWorking From Home AllowanceAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22£1,738£1,738
31 March 2022MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2021-22£1,382£1,382
26 October 2021Office CostsEquipment - purchaseComputer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories£978£978
1 October 2021AccommodationCouncil taxFinal council tax bill£612£612
17 June 2021Office CostsSoftware & applicationsElected Tech£600£600
4 August 2021StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£548£548
1 November 2021StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£500£500

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 Anneliese Dodds 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 · Anneliese Dodds’s register of interests and votes · Sources