MPs’ business costs
Deirdre Costigan
IPSA paid £215,511 against 199 published rows for Deirdre Costigan between 2024-25 and 2025-26 as the member for Ealing Southall 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, 2025-26
87 claims, £19,025 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. | 7 | £2,461 | 12.9% |
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 80 | £16,564 | 87.1% |
Every year in the register
Deirdre Costigan’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2024-25 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 112 | £172,372 | £24,054 | £59 | £196,485 |
| 2025-26 | 87 | £2,461 | £16,564 | — | £19,025 |
A year in which Deirdre Costigan 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, 2025-26
The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.
Staffing
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Training - staff | 7 | £2,461 |
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Equipment - purchase | 17 | £4,804 |
| Stationery & printing | 21 | £3,817 |
| Software & applications | 3 | £2,189 |
| Venue hire, meetings & surgeries | 19 | £1,937 |
| Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs | 5 | £1,731 |
| Advertising and contact cards | 5 | £1,261 |
Largest claims, 2025-26
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 April 2025 | Office Costs | Equipment - purchase | Office furniture | £1,547 | £1,547 |
| 23 June 2025 | Office Costs | Software & applications | ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES | £1,476 | £1,476 |
| 23 January 2026 | Staffing | Training - staff | Staff Training | £1,440 | £1,440 |
| 19 May 2025 | Office Costs | Equipment - purchase | Office furniture | £1,342 | £1,342 |
| 2 March 2026 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | Banner March 2026 | £1,218 | £1,218 |
| 5 March 2026 | Office Costs | Advertising and contact cards | Leaflets and office sign | £690 | £690 |
| 7 July 2025 | Office Costs | Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs | Electrician invoice for constituency office | £615 | £615 |
| 23 June 2025 | Staffing | Training - staff | EVAC+CHAIR INTERNATION | £601 | £601 |
| 16 December 2025 | Office Costs | Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs | Cable installation | £475 | £475 |
| 9 November 2025 | Office Costs | Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs | MY GROUP SOLUTIONS LIM | £462 | £462 |
| 9 June 2025 | Office Costs | Equipment - purchase | Other office equipment | £459 | £459 |
| 16 September 2025 | Office Costs | Software & applications | CANVA [***] | £450 | £450 |
| 26 November 2025 | Office Costs | Advertising and contact cards | CHANA CHEMIST STHLL | £360 | £360 |
| 3 July 2025 | Office Costs | Equipment - purchase | Office furniture | £335 | £335 |
| 11 November 2025 | Office Costs | Venue hire, meetings & surgeries | — | £300 | £300 |
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 Deirdre Costigan 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 · Deirdre Costigan’s register of interests and votes · Sources