MPs’ business costs

Dawn Butler

IPSA paid £2,185,170 against 597 published rows for Dawn Butler between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Brent Central BC, then Brent 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, 2015-16

141 claims, £163,099 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.	75	£134,771	82.6%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	51	£22,677	13.9%
Starting up and winding up	The one-off costs of opening an office on election and of closing one on leaving. These fall in the years around a general election and are absent from the rest.	15	£5,651	3.5%

Every year in the register

Dawn Butler’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2015-16 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	Starting up and winding up	Miscellaneous	Total
2015-16	141	£134,771	£22,677	—	£5,651	—	£163,099
2016-17	87	£170,316	£26,320	—	—	—	£196,637
2017-18	45	£161,399	£25,122	—	—	—	£186,521
2018-19	43	£164,424	£27,313	—	—	£561	£192,298
2019-20	40	£165,728	£27,608	£457	—	—	£193,793
2020-21	65	£204,389	£16,286	—	—	£342	£221,017
2021-22	53	£208,858	£16,865	—	—	—	£225,723
2022-23	27	£217,204	£12,382	£101	—	£37,470	£267,156
2023-24	41	£217,978	£26,309	—	—	—	£244,287
2024-25	36	£266,312	£21,361	£13	—	—	£287,686
2025-26	19	—	£6,954	—	—	—	£6,954

A year in which Dawn Butler 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, 2015-16

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£124,098
Staff Training Costs	2	£4,166
Professional Services (Staff.)	7	£4,062
Public Tr UND Volunteer	29	£1,180
Food & Drink Volunteer	34	£721
Practice Liability Insurance	1	£578

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	3	£12,978
Professional Services: Direct	1	£4,000
Stationery Purchase	24	£2,770
Computer SW Purchase	1	£1,000
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	7	£625
Other	5	£434

Starting up and winding up

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Office Furn Purch StartUp	5	£2,683
Comp HW Purch StartUp	6	£1,859
Office Consumables StartUp	1	£720
Office Alterations StartUp	2	£310
Purchase of TV StartUp	1	£80

Largest claims, 2015-16

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 2016	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year	£124,098	£124,098
24 September 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£7,975	£7,975
30 June 2015	Office Costs	Professional Services: Direct	PRS	£4,000	£4,000
4 December 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£3,988	£3,988
31 March 2016	Staffing	Staff Training Costs	Training costs	£2,366	£2,366
30 March 2016	Staffing	Staff Training Costs	Team training	£1,800	£1,800
26 February 2016	Staffing	Professional Services (Staff.)	Professional Services	£1,500	£1,500
30 December 2015	Start Up	Comp HW Purch StartUp	Hubble Telecom	£1,500	£1,500
25 February 2016	Start Up	Comp HW Purch StartUp	Barclaycard March 2016	£1,117	£1,117
4 March 2016	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,016	£1,016
24 March 2016	Staffing	Professional Services (Staff.)	[***]	£1,000	£1,000
4 August 2015	Office Costs	Computer SW Purchase	Barclaycard 25.08.15	£1,000	£1,000
22 September 2015	Start Up	Office Furn Purch StartUp	Barclayard September 2015	£738	£738
31 July 2015	Start Up	Office Consumables StartUp	Barclaycard 25.08.15	£720	£720
22 October 2015	Start Up	Office Furn Purch StartUp	Barclaycard October 2015	£605	£605

Claims refused and money repaid, 2015-16

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £21 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 Dawn Butler 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 · Dawn Butler’s register of interests and votes · Sources