MPs’ business costs

Helen Hayes

IPSA paid £2,214,783 against 778 published rows for Helen Hayes between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Dulwich and West Norwood 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, 2015-16

108 claims, £160,344 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.	1	£132,208	82.5%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	91	£23,183	14.5%
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	£49	0.0%
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.	15	£4,903	3.1%

Every year in the register

Helen Hayes’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2015-16 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
2015-16	108	£132,208	£23,183	£49	£4,903	—	£160,344
2016-17	81	£148,500	£22,038	£28	—	—	£170,566
2017-18	54	£154,007	£20,406	—	—	—	£174,414
2018-19	73	£163,144	£25,647	—	—	—	£188,791
2019-20	76	£161,873	£26,636	—	—	£7,134	£195,644
2020-21	49	£204,981	£17,060	—	—	—	£222,041
2021-22	66	£218,266	£22,868	£205	—	—	£241,340
2022-23	68	£235,879	£29,164	£665	—	—	£265,709
2023-24	96	£249,507	£31,531	£265	—	—	£281,303
2024-25	62	£268,497	£27,484	—	—	—	£295,981
2025-26	45	—	£18,653	—	—	—	£18,653

A year in which Helen Hayes 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	£132,208

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	8	£5,385
Stationery Purchase	38	£4,418
Professional Services: Direct	3	£4,000
Computer HW Purchase	5	£2,790
Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting	10	£2,166
Computer SW Purchase	2	£1,350

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£49

Starting up and winding up

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Comp HW Purch StartUp	2	£2,099
Office Alterations StartUp	2	£1,325
Office Furn Purch StartUp	2	£1,295
Office Consumables StartUp	3	£101
Other Equipment Purch StartUp	4	£55
Office Cleaning StartUp	2	£28

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	£132,208	£132,208
23 February 2016	Office Costs	Professional Services: Direct	PRS	£2,400	£2,400
14 August 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£2,000	£2,000
17 December 2015	Start Up	Comp HW Purch StartUp	Surgery hire,laptop+phone/wifi	£1,279	£1,279
29 June 2015	Office Costs	Professional Services: Direct	PRS	£1,200	£1,200
18 February 2016	Start Up	Office Furn Purch StartUp	Feb 2016 Barclaycard payment	£1,036	£1,036
6 July 2015	Office Costs	Computer SW Purchase	July 15 expenses card payment	£1,000	£1,000
2 March 2016	Office Costs	Furniture Purchase	25 March 2016 card statement	£977	£977
5 June 2015	Office Costs	Computer HW Purchase	PC, printer + toner cartridge	£906	£906
16 March 2016	Office Costs	Computer HW Purchase	25 March 2016 card statement	£820	£820
19 January 2016	Start Up	Comp HW Purch StartUp	Various expenses to 25/1/2016	£820	£820
22 February 2016	Start Up	Office Alterations StartUp	Feb 2016 Barclaycard payment	£663	£663
27 January 2016	Start Up	Office Alterations StartUp	Feb 2016 Barclaycard payment	£663	£663
4 August 2015	Office Costs	Legal Expenses Insurance	EPL	£657	£657
15 December 2015	Office Costs	Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting	—	£630	£630

Claims refused and money repaid, 2015-16

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £50 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 Hayes 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 Hayes’s register of interests and votes · Sources