MPs’ business costs

Apsana Begum

IPSA paid £1,238,474 against 388 published rows for Apsana Begum between 2019-20 and 2025-26 as the member for Poplar and Limehouse 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

40 claims, £236,781 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.	1	£216,609	91.5%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	39	£20,172	8.5%

Every year in the register

Apsana Begum’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2019-20 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	Travel	Total
2019-20	36	£22,910	£825	—	£23,735
2020-21	54	£163,740	£27,043	—	£190,782
2021-22	40	£216,609	£20,172	—	£236,781
2022-23	63	£210,590	£13,166	£368	£224,125
2023-24	97	£251,103	£34,787	£351	£286,241
2024-25	61	£226,742	£28,102	£367	£255,210
2025-26	37	£14,848	£6,751	—	£21,599

A year in which Apsana Begum 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 type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£216,609

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Bought-in services	12	£11,615
Equipment - purchase	9	£3,085
Working From Home Allowance	1	£2,153
Recruitment Services &Costs	1	£1,314
Website hosting and design	2	£845
Software & applications	10	£754

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.

Date	Category	Cost type	Description	Claimed	Paid
31 March 2022	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£216,609	£216,609
29 March 2022	Office Costs	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£3,150	£3,150
29 March 2022	Office Costs	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£2,250	£2,250
31 March 2022	Office Costs	Working From Home Allowance	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£2,153	£2,153
20 December 2021	Office Costs	Recruitment Services &Costs	HIVE SUPPORT LTD	£1,314	£1,314
8 December 2021	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Computer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories	£1,202	£1,202
30 May 2021	Office Costs	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£1,000	£1,000
1 May 2021	Office Costs	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£1,000	£1,000
29 April 2021	Office Costs	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£1,000	£1,000
8 March 2021	Office Costs	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£1,000	£1,000
9 June 2021	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Office furniture	£895	£895
11 March 2021	Office Costs	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£750	£750
31 March 2021	Office Costs	Software & applications	SENDIBLE.COM	£655	£655
5 July 2021	Office Costs	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£500	£500
14 June 2021	Office Costs	Website hosting and design	GO FAR DESIGN	£445	£445

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 Apsana Begum 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 · Apsana Begum’s register of interests and votes · Sources