MPs’ business costs

Derek Twigg

IPSA paid £2,104,794 against 1,256 published rows for Derek Twigg between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Halton CC, then Widnes and Halewood 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, 2014-15

101 claims, £120,315 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.	6	£79,000	65.7%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	73	£12,488	10.4%
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.	21	£19,485	16.2%
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	£9,342	7.8%

Every year in the register

Derek Twigg’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	Total
2010-11	109	£74,164	£8,529	£18,460	£5,204	£106,358
2011-12	111	£92,428	£13,702	£19,401	£5,824	£131,355
2012-13	118	£77,343	£14,140	£19,556	£7,273	£118,312
2013-14	103	£68,892	£11,157	£19,826	£9,394	£109,270
2014-15	101	£79,000	£12,488	£19,485	£9,342	£120,315
2015-16	104	£80,987	£10,954	£17,285	£8,648	£117,873
2016-17	75	£80,109	£11,564	£20,211	£8,002	£119,886
2017-18	62	£84,210	£10,405	£22,063	£4,189	£120,868
2018-19	51	£88,804	£11,428	£18,783	£9,065	£128,081
2019-20	105	£100,538	£13,668	£21,674	£2,237	£138,117
2020-21	64	£99,380	£14,083	£20,187	£4,245	£137,896
2021-22	49	£121,405	£14,433	£22,091	£6,419	£164,348
2022-23	68	£126,680	£12,734	£22,387	£6,984	£168,785
2023-24	59	£147,125	£13,109	£22,300	£7,090	£189,624
2024-25	63	£179,687	£13,793	£26,560	£8,942	£228,982
2025-26	14	—	£2,735	£1,990	—	£4,725

A year in which Derek Twigg 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, 2014-15

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£74,094
Pooled Services: Direct	1	£4,800
Public Tr RAIL Volunteer - RT	4	£106

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	12	£7,510
Stationery Purchase	23	£1,460
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	24	£1,148
Legal Exp/Emp Practice Insur.	1	£578
Computer HW Purchase	1	£485
Contents Insurance	1	£369

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	12	£17,815
Council Tax	1	£677
Water	2	£500
Service Charges	1	£150
Television Licence	1	£146
Electricity	3	£134

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£9,342

Largest claims, 2014-15

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 2015	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2014-15 year	£74,094	£74,094
31 March 2015	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2014-15	£9,342	£9,342
9 June 2014	Staffing	Pooled Services: Direct	PRS subscription	£4,800	£4,800
10 February 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,538	£1,538
5 January 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,538	£1,538
9 December 2014	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,538	£1,538
6 November 2014	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,538	£1,538
2 October 2014	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,538	£1,538
2 September 2014	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,538	£1,538
6 August 2014	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,538	£1,538
3 July 2014	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,538	£1,538
3 June 2014	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,538	£1,538
6 May 2014	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,538	£1,538
7 April 2014	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,538	£1,538
5 March 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£893	£893

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 Derek Twigg 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 · Derek Twigg’s register of interests and votes · Sources