MPs’ business costs

Helen Grant

IPSA paid £2,750,803 against 2,305 published rows for Helen Grant between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Maidstone and The Weald CC, then Maidstone and Malling 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

123 claims, £29,324 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.	99	£23,089	78.7%
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.	24	£6,236	21.3%

Every year in the register

Helen Grant’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	Miscellaneous	Total
2010-11	123	£80,005	£14,111	£10,654	£1,322	—	£106,093
2011-12	117	£95,887	£16,817	£2,383	£974	—	£116,062
2012-13	168	£116,795	£19,292	£16,889	£297	—	£153,273
2013-14	150	£118,653	£19,250	£12,310	£313	—	£150,527
2014-15	138	£137,618	£22,687	£12,504	£896	—	£173,704
2015-16	106	£137,187	£17,216	£8,509	£297	—	£163,209
2016-17	104	£135,986	£17,386	£6,150	£1,017	—	£160,539
2017-18	129	£142,455	£23,090	£11,295	£881	—	£177,721
2018-19	112	£142,460	£23,405	£2,606	—	£775	£169,246
2019-20	181	£152,390	£25,130	£10,087	—	—	£187,606
2020-21	178	£174,698	£28,171	£17,415	—	£1,134	£221,418
2021-22	186	£160,950	£28,271	£23,557	£64	—	£212,842
2022-23	159	£171,945	£23,110	£25,351	£704	—	£221,110
2023-24	146	£194,765	£28,294	£7,850	£1,050	—	£231,959
2024-25	185	£220,576	£31,122	£19,005	£3,098	£2,369	£276,169
2025-26	123	—	£23,089	£6,236	—	—	£29,324

A year in which Helen Grant 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
Advertising and contact cards	8	£6,672
Software & applications	15	£2,871
Utilities	13	£2,655
Stationery & printing	10	£2,163
Equipment - purchase	6	£1,533
Cleaning services	3	£1,358

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Council tax	1	£2,911
Utilities	12	£2,759
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	11	£566

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
8 July 2025	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	LEAFLETDROP	£2,980	£2,980
9 April 2025	Accommodation	Council tax	Tonbridge & Malling B C - Council Tax	£2,911	£2,911
30 July 2025	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	D A Printers inv [***] - Newsletter attached	£1,595	£1,595
4 February 2026	Office Costs	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£1,218	£1,218
17 December 2025	Accommodation	Utilities	Other fuel	£794	£794
4 December 2025	Accommodation	Utilities	Gas	£794	£794
28 February 2026	Office Costs	Software & applications	ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES	£738	£738
25 February 2026	Office Costs	Software & applications	Elected Technologies inv [***]	£738	£738
25 June 2025	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Television	£679	£679
25 July 2025	Office Costs	Cleaning services	[*][][**]	£645	£645
7 January 2026	Office Costs	Cleaning services	[*][][**]	£615	£615
31 July 2025	Office Costs	Software & applications	BENCHMARK REPAIR	£600	£600
11 June 2025	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	D A Printers inv [***] - Surgery Survey	£580	£580
15 January 2026	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Office furniture	£450	£450
23 April 2025	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	Paragon inv [***] - 20000 calling cards	£370	£370

Claims refused and money repaid, 2025-26

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £794 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 Helen Grant 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 · Helen Grant’s register of interests and votes · Sources