MPs’ business costs

Damian Hinds

IPSA paid £2,122,778 against 1,480 published rows for Damian Hinds between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for East Hampshire CC. 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, 2010-11

66 claims, £73,877 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£59,15580.1%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.41£1,7662.4%
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.20£11,75515.9%
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£1,2011.6%

Every year in the register

Damian Hinds’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 costsAccommodationTravelTotal
2010-1166£59,155£1,766£11,755£1,201£73,877
2011-12113£88,237£3,505£10,758£1,966£104,466
2012-13115£79,229£3,756£6,198£3,140£92,322
2013-14106£78,935£3,911£5,268£4,769£92,882
2014-1583£72,798£2,509£9,845£3,411£88,563
2015-16101£86,220£4,251£10,483£3,705£104,659
2016-1775£100,689£3,132£9,640£3,893£117,353
2017-1885£103,345£4,282£12,176£2,992£122,796
2018-1959£115,933£4,318£24,938£3,390£148,579
2019-2091£115,726£7,904£26,600£3,265£153,495
2020-21112£149,534£7,287£31,200£1,577£189,598
2021-2279£151,040£4,016£31,045£1,841£187,942
2022-2374£157,002£3,378£34,836£2,571£197,786
2023-24158£181,506£4,967£35,105£3,589£225,166
2024-25132£177,198£4,980£33,323£4,286£219,786
2025-2631£3,508£3,508

A year in which Damian Hinds 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, 2010-11

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£56,345
Pooled Staffing Services2£1,939
Professional Services (Staff.)1£871

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Stationery Purchase12£1,165
Const Office Hire of Premises17£363
Telephone/Mobile Hire4£121
Payment Telephone/Mobile3£99
Venue Hire5£19

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Accommodation Rent6£7,740
Interim Hotel London Area12£3,516
Council Tax1£276
Gas1£222

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Aggregated Travel Costs1£1,201

Largest claims, 2010-11

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 2011StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2010-11 year£56,345£56,345
20 February 2011AccommodationAccommodation RentLondon rent >90 w/ permission£1,440£1,440
20 February 2011AccommodationAccommodation RentLondon rent >90 w/ permission£1,440£1,440
17 February 2011AccommodationAccommodation RentLondon flat rental Dec10-Feb11£1,440£1,440
17 January 2011AccommodationAccommodation RentLondon flat rental Dec10-Feb11£1,440£1,440
17 December 2010AccommodationAccommodation RentLondon flat rental Dec10-Feb11£1,440£1,440
31 March 2011TravelAggregated Travel CostsAggregated figure for travel during 2010-11£1,201£1,201
1 October 2010StaffingPooled Staffing ServicesStaffing Costs to 31 Oct 2010£969£969
10 May 2010StaffingPooled Staffing ServicesMay 2010 Rsrch Svcs / Pooled£969£969
21 October 2010StaffingProfessional Services (Staff.)Staffing Costs to 31 Oct 2010£871£871
20 March 2011AccommodationAccommodation RentLondon Flat last full month£540£540
28 June 2010AccommodationInterim Hotel London Area[***]£380£380
12 July 2010AccommodationInterim Hotel London AreaInterim Accomodation July/Aug£367£367
5 July 2010AccommodationInterim Hotel London AreaInterim Accomodation July/Aug£367£367
6 September 2010AccommodationInterim Hotel London AreaInterim Accomm. 09/10 2010£354£354

Claims refused and money repaid, 2010-11

3 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £48 not paid and £0 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 Damian Hinds 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 · Damian Hinds’s register of interests and votes · Sources