MPs’ business costs

Debbie Abrahams

IPSA paid £2,995,178 against 1,494 published rows for Debbie Abrahams between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Oldham East and Saddleworth 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, 2016-17

86 claims, £188,810 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	£137,828	73.0%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	69	£21,063	11.2%
Accommodation	The 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.	15	£20,610	10.9%
Travel	Journeys 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	£9,310	4.9%

Every year in the register

Debbie Abrahams’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.

Year	Claims	Staffing	Office costs	Accommodation	Travel	Miscellaneous	Total
2010-11	12	£19,840	£1,877	£1,790	£1,262	—	£24,769
2011-12	132	£114,431	£25,990	£20,041	£8,158	—	£168,619
2012-13	151	£130,064	£21,252	£23,184	£7,045	—	£181,544
2013-14	154	£125,075	£20,280	£20,100	£8,072	—	£173,527
2014-15	110	£145,003	£20,425	£20,021	£7,705	—	£193,154
2015-16	108	£140,000	£22,853	£20,600	£7,938	—	£191,391
2016-17	86	£137,828	£21,063	£20,610	£9,310	—	£188,810
2017-18	77	£150,900	£21,954	£21,287	£8,560	—	£202,701
2018-19	85	£153,582	£18,247	£20,543	£9,011	£280	£201,664
2019-20	77	£154,490	£13,611	£17,584	£9,640	—	£195,324
2020-21	77	£177,532	£21,407	£20,926	£1,538	—	£221,404
2021-22	72	£190,230	£10,321	£20,994	£4,180	—	£225,725
2022-23	102	£192,812	£23,006	£21,045	£7,314	—	£244,177
2023-24	115	£222,475	£25,505	£20,971	£10,013	—	£278,964
2024-25	77	£243,855	£14,202	£23,219	£8,836	—	£290,112
2025-26	59	—	£11,827	£1,465	—	—	£13,292

A year in which Debbie Abrahams 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 type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£137,828

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	4	£8,625
Business Rates	1	£4,235
Const Office Gas	5	£2,220
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	11	£1,260
IT/Other Equipment Hire	10	£1,126
Stationery Purchase	15	£961

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	13	£19,800
Council Tax	1	£943
Budget Repayment (Accomm.)	1	£-133

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£9,310

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.

Date	Category	Cost type	Description	Claimed	Paid
31 March 2017	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year	£137,828	£137,828
31 March 2017	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2016-17	£9,310	£9,310
6 May 2016	Office Costs	Business Rates	Payment Card May 2016	£4,235	£4,235
25 December 2016	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	Office Costs March 2017	£2,156	£2,156
25 December 2016	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	Office Costs - Dec 2016	£2,156	£2,156
24 June 2016	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	Office Costs August 2016	£2,156	£2,156
1 April 2016	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	Office Costs April-May	£2,156	£2,156
3 February 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,650	£1,650
3 January 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,650	£1,650
4 December 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,650	£1,650
4 November 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,650	£1,650
1 October 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,650	£1,650
1 September 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,650	£1,650
4 August 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,650	£1,650
4 July 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,650	£1,650

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 Debbie Abrahams 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 · Debbie Abrahams’s register of interests and votes · Sources