MPs’ business costs

Clive Efford

IPSA paid £2,805,662 against 1,030 published rows for Clive Efford between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Eltham BC, then Eltham and Chislehurst 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

74 claims, £174,907 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£154,60888.4%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.72£19,93911.4%
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£3600.2%

Every year in the register

Clive Efford’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
2010-1158£82,610£13,552£260£96,422
2011-1273£132,029£19,731£442£580£152,781
2012-1363£137,528£24,724£1,009£706£163,966
2013-1492£147,090£24,162£710£171,962
2014-1580£145,323£22,164£737£168,225
2015-1680£145,882£22,585£360£168,827
2016-1774£154,608£19,939£360£174,907
2017-1882£158,301£24,155£160£182,616
2018-1965£162,219£21,455£721£184,395
2019-2067£133,521£18,160£384£152,066
2020-2141£178,467£17,496£1,680£197,643
2021-2229£206,212£21,730£264£228,206
2022-2385£216,318£23,322£957£240,597
2023-2460£223,526£23,747£520£912£248,705
2024-2555£241,434£25,190£685£267,308
2025-2626£7,037£7,037

A year in which Clive Efford 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£154,608

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Const Office Rent12£12,000
Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting14£1,511
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental18£1,351
Computer HW Purchase4£1,230
Other Equip Purchase3£1,040
Stationery Purchase9£1,029

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Aggregated Travel Costs1£360

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£154,608£154,608
25 January 2017Office CostsComputer HW PurchaseComputer equipment£1,049£1,049
24 February 2017Office CostsConst Office Rent£1,000£1,000
25 January 2017Office CostsConst Office Rent£1,000£1,000
20 December 2016Office CostsConst Office Rent£1,000£1,000
25 November 2016Office CostsConst Office Rent£1,000£1,000
26 October 2016Office CostsConst Office Rent£1,000£1,000
27 September 2016Office CostsConst Office Rent£1,000£1,000
24 August 2016Office CostsConst Office Rent£1,000£1,000
29 July 2016Office CostsConst Office Rent£1,000£1,000
29 June 2016Office CostsConst Office Rent£1,000£1,000
24 May 2016Office CostsConst Office Rent£1,000£1,000
27 April 2016Office CostsConst Office Rent£1,000£1,000
1 April 2016Office CostsConst Office Rent£1,000£1,000
27 January 2017Office CostsOther Equip PurchaseComputer equipment£549£549

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 Clive Efford 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 · Clive Efford’s register of interests and votes · Sources