MPs’ business costs
Mrs Elsie Blundell
IPSA paid £181,604 against 202 published rows for Mrs Elsie Blundell between 2024-25 and 2025-26 as the member for Heywood and Middleton North 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, 2025-26
82 claims, £17,780 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 65 | £14,829 | 83.4% |
| 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. | 17 | £2,951 | 16.6% |
Every year in the register
Mrs Elsie Blundell’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 | Accommodation | Travel | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 120 | £115,644 | £25,823 | £14,132 | £8,224 | £163,823 |
| 2025-26 | 82 | — | £14,829 | £2,951 | — | £17,780 |
A year in which Mrs Elsie Blundell 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.
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Business rates | 5 | £2,844 |
| Equipment - purchase | 12 | £2,805 |
| Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs | 2 | £1,785 |
| Landline phone & internet - rental & usage | 13 | £1,691 |
| Equipment - hire | 1 | £1,476 |
| Utilities | 19 | £1,313 |
Accommodation
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Council tax | 4 | £1,325 |
| Utilities | 11 | £1,228 |
| Hotel - London | 2 | £398 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 April 2025 | Office Costs | Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs | HARRISON FACILITIES | £1,728 | £1,728 |
| 27 June 2025 | Office Costs | Equipment - hire | Other office equipment | £1,476 | £1,476 |
| 23 October 2025 | Office Costs | Business rates | HTTPS://WWW.ROCHDALE.G | £1,272 | £1,272 |
| 11 August 2025 | Office Costs | Postage & couriers | RCD LEAFLETS | £1,050 | £1,050 |
| 21 November 2025 | Office Costs | Equipment - purchase | Other office equipment | £792 | £792 |
| 30 October 2025 | Office Costs | Equipment - purchase | Sundries | £535 | £535 |
| 28 May 2025 | Accommodation | Council tax | WWW.WESTMINSTER.GOV.UK | £516 | £516 |
| 31 March 2025 | Accommodation | Council tax | Council Tax Paid from Nov 2024 - March 2025 inclusive | £516 | £516 |
| 1 August 2025 | Office Costs | Business rates | HTTPS://WWW.ROCHDALE.G | £500 | £500 |
| 10 June 2025 | Office Costs | Business rates | HTTPS://WWW.ROCHDALE.G | £500 | £500 |
| 28 May 2025 | Office Costs | Equipment - purchase | Other office equipment | £384 | £384 |
| 23 April 2025 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | CARTRIDGE SAVE | £378 | £378 |
| 29 April 2025 | Office Costs | Business rates | HTTPS://WWW.ROCHDALE.G | £288 | £288 |
| 21 May 2025 | Office Costs | Business rates | HTTPS://WWW.ROCHDALE.G | £284 | £284 |
| 28 May 2025 | Office Costs | Utilities | Electricity | £249 | £249 |
Claims refused and money repaid, 2025-26
3 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £286 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 Mrs Elsie Blundell 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 · Mrs Elsie Blundell’s register of interests and votes · Sources