MPs’ business costs

Dame Harriett Baldwin

IPSA paid £2,589,220 against 2,363 published rows for Dame Harriett Baldwin between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for West Worcestershire 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, 2015-16

133 claims, £164,816 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.	2	£136,299	82.7%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	107	£19,334	11.7%
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.	23	£2,557	1.6%
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	£6,626	4.0%

Every year in the register

Dame Harriett Baldwin’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	137	£81,350	£16,891	£7,276	£7,233	£112,750
2011-12	137	£114,643	£17,517	£4,788	£7,593	£144,541
2012-13	154	£132,837	£21,541	£2,988	£8,732	£166,097
2013-14	167	£124,793	£18,103	£4,204	£7,988	£155,087
2014-15	155	£126,044	£16,972	£4,348	£7,179	£154,544
2015-16	133	£136,299	£19,334	£2,557	£6,626	£164,816
2016-17	131	£139,135	£19,825	£5,768	£7,173	£171,901
2017-18	119	£123,681	£15,061	£2,567	£6,121	£147,429
2018-19	105	£137,761	£16,814	£5,479	£5,488	£165,542
2019-20	178	£131,828	£21,584	£2,465	£5,783	£161,660
2020-21	107	£161,987	£18,566	£3,920	£3,701	£188,174
2021-22	178	£136,700	£24,441	£4,149	£5,193	£170,483
2022-23	202	£166,850	£23,568	£3,795	£6,485	£200,698
2023-24	209	£181,543	£23,886	£7,059	£7,069	£219,557
2024-25	188	£212,045	£24,234	£1,900	£6,529	£244,708
2025-26	63	—	£15,179	£6,053	—	£21,233

A year in which Dame Harriett Baldwin 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	£136,109
Health and Welfare Costs	1	£190

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	12	£7,625
Professional Services: Direct	1	£2,977
Website - Design/Production	4	£2,651
Stationery Purchase	21	£2,092
Software Purchase	1	£600
Const Office Electricity	12	£582

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Internet	13	£1,322
Gas	2	£574
Electricity	3	£263
Telephone Usage/Rental	1	£194
Service Charges	2	£118
Water	2	£86

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£6,626

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	£136,109	£136,109
31 March 2016	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2015-16	£6,626	£6,626
19 May 2015	Office Costs	Professional Services: Direct	PRU	£2,977	£2,977
4 January 2016	Office Costs	Website - Design/Production	Quarterly Website	£738	£738
31 December 2015	Office Costs	Website - Design/Production	Website	£738	£738
21 July 2015	Office Costs	Website - Design/Production	Website design	£738	£738
27 January 2016	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£646	£646
25 December 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£646	£646
25 November 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£646	£646
27 October 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£646	£646
24 September 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£646	£646
27 August 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£646	£646
27 July 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£646	£646
6 July 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£646	£646
1 June 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£646	£646

Claims refused and money repaid, 2015-16

5 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £6 not paid and £599 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 Dame Harriett Baldwin 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 · Dame Harriett Baldwin’s register of interests and votes · Sources