MPs’ business costs
Heidi Alexander
IPSA paid £1,448,320 against 620 published rows for Heidi Alexander between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Lewisham East BC, then Swindon South 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, 2010-11 to 2025-26
620 claims, £1,448,320 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. | 22 | £1,193,740 | 82.4% |
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 586 | £204,457 | 14.1% |
| 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. | 7 | £9,088 | 0.6% |
| Starting up and winding up | The one-off costs of opening an office on election and of closing one on leaving. These fall in the years around a general election and are absent from the rest. | 4 | £39,509 | 2.7% |
| Miscellaneous | Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19. | 1 | £1,527 | 0.1% |
Every year in the register
Heidi Alexander’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 | Travel | Starting up and winding up | Miscellaneous | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-11 | 44 | £79,251 | £15,564 | — | — | — | £94,815 |
| 2011-12 | 65 | £107,723 | £19,654 | — | — | £1,527 | £128,904 |
| 2012-13 | 62 | £123,336 | £16,926 | — | — | — | £140,262 |
| 2013-14 | 92 | £129,596 | £21,156 | — | — | — | £150,752 |
| 2014-15 | 69 | £145,500 | £24,711 | — | — | — | £170,211 |
| 2015-16 | 57 | £146,871 | £23,751 | — | — | — | £170,622 |
| 2016-17 | 53 | £148,439 | £24,221 | — | — | — | £172,660 |
| 2017-18 | 44 | £148,896 | £25,125 | — | — | — | £174,021 |
| 2018-19 | 9 | £15,670 | £3,406 | — | £39,509 | — | £58,585 |
| 2024-25 | 93 | £148,366 | £21,363 | £9,088 | — | — | £178,816 |
| 2025-26 | 32 | £93 | £8,579 | — | — | — | £8,672 |
A year in which Heidi Alexander 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, 2010-11 to 2025-26
The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.
Staffing
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll | 10 | £1,172,380 |
| Pooled Staffing Services | 3 | £10,800 |
| Pooled Services: Direct | 2 | £9,600 |
| Pooled staffing services | 1 | £3,000 |
| Professional Services (Staff.) | 2 | £732 |
| Working From Home Allowance | 1 | £204 |
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Const Office Rent | 93 | £88,815 |
| Stationery Purchase | 184 | £34,904 |
| Rent | 9 | £13,369 |
| Professional Services: Direct | 2 | £9,600 |
| Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental | 31 | £6,560 |
| Professional Services | 31 | £6,510 |
Travel
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Rail | 7 | £9,088 |
Starting up and winding up
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll | 1 | £37,624 |
| Office Rent | 1 | £1,433 |
| Professional Services Wind. Up | 1 | £400 |
| Const Off Tel.Usg/Rnt Wind.Up | 1 | £52 |
Miscellaneous
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Contingency | 1 | £1,527 |
Largest claims, 2010-11 to 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 March 2018 | Staffing | Payroll | Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year | £148,896 | £148,896 |
| 31 March 2017 | Staffing | Payroll | Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year | £148,439 | £148,439 |
| 31 March 2016 | Staffing | Payroll | Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year | £146,871 | £146,871 |
| 31 March 2025 | Staffing | Payroll | Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year | £145,140 | £145,140 |
| 31 March 2015 | Staffing | Payroll | Total payroll costs for the 2014-15 year | £143,791 | £143,791 |
| 31 March 2014 | Staffing | Payroll | Total payroll costs for the 2013-14 year | £124,796 | £124,796 |
| 31 March 2013 | Staffing | Payroll | Total payroll costs for the 2012-13 year | £117,864 | £117,864 |
| 31 March 2012 | Staffing | Payroll | Total payroll costs for the 2011-12 year | £102,863 | £102,863 |
| 31 March 2011 | Staffing | Payroll | Total payroll costs for the 2010-11 year | £78,051 | £78,051 |
| 31 March 2019 | Winding Up | Payroll | Total Winding Up budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year | £37,624 | £37,624 |
| 31 March 2019 | Staffing | Payroll | Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year | £15,670 | £15,670 |
| 28 April 2017 | Office Costs | Professional Services: Direct | PRS | £4,800 | £4,800 |
| 17 April 2016 | Office Costs | Professional Services | PRS Annual subscription | £4,800 | £4,800 |
| 30 June 2015 | Office Costs | Professional Services: Direct | PRS | £4,800 | £4,800 |
| 9 June 2014 | Staffing | Pooled Services: Direct | [***] | £4,800 | £4,800 |
Claims refused and money repaid, 2010-11 to 2025-26
6 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £47 not paid and £310 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 Heidi Alexander 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 · Heidi Alexander’s register of interests and votes · Sources