MPs’ business costs
Hilary Benn
IPSA paid £2,440,758 against 1,969 published rows for Hilary Benn between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Leeds Central BC, then Leeds 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, 2025-26
48 claims, £16,350 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. | 25 | £9,746 | 59.6% |
| 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 | £6,604 | 40.4% |
Every year in the register
Hilary Benn’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 | 112 | £76,017 | £20,098 | £3,374 | £8,075 | — | £107,564 |
| 2011-12 | 132 | £99,445 | £20,585 | £3,948 | £8,624 | — | £132,602 |
| 2012-13 | 203 | £123,031 | £22,101 | £4,067 | £8,260 | — | £157,458 |
| 2013-14 | 220 | £126,144 | £21,226 | £4,320 | £7,962 | — | £159,652 |
| 2014-15 | 201 | £129,594 | £23,453 | £4,392 | £6,478 | £2,979 | £166,897 |
| 2015-16 | 147 | £134,769 | £15,419 | £4,428 | £4,872 | — | £159,488 |
| 2016-17 | 114 | £140,314 | £16,327 | £4,379 | £6,772 | — | £167,791 |
| 2017-18 | 94 | £140,986 | £16,172 | £4,232 | £6,213 | — | £167,604 |
| 2018-19 | 100 | £124,024 | £19,908 | £4,377 | £7,107 | — | £155,415 |
| 2019-20 | 91 | £139,401 | £17,987 | £4,528 | £4,965 | — | £166,880 |
| 2020-21 | 85 | £132,712 | £17,667 | £4,131 | £1,415 | — | £155,926 |
| 2021-22 | 85 | £148,272 | £18,114 | £4,123 | £3,653 | — | £174,162 |
| 2022-23 | 115 | £149,052 | £14,022 | £5,348 | £4,541 | — | £172,964 |
| 2023-24 | 121 | £169,811 | £15,240 | £5,389 | £4,065 | — | £194,504 |
| 2024-25 | 101 | £162,859 | £15,318 | £5,339 | £1,984 | — | £185,500 |
| 2025-26 | 48 | — | £9,746 | £6,604 | — | — | £16,350 |
A year in which Hilary Benn 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Service charge & ground Rent | 11 | £5,876 |
| Software & applications | 2 | £1,538 |
| Landline phone & internet - rental & usage | 4 | £1,056 |
| Insurance - contents | 1 | £378 |
| Stationery & printing | 4 | £338 |
| Newspapers, journals, magazines | 1 | £329 |
Accommodation
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Council tax | 9 | £3,614 |
| Service charge & ground Rent | 11 | £2,546 |
| Landline phone & internet - rental & usage | 3 | £443 |
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 | Software & applications | ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES | £1,476 | £1,476 |
| 6 March 2026 | Office Costs | Service charge & ground Rent | Office service charges | £534 | £534 |
| 30 January 2026 | Office Costs | Service charge & ground Rent | Service charge for February | £534 | £534 |
| 19 December 2025 | Office Costs | Service charge & ground Rent | Office service charge reimbursement | £534 | £534 |
| 7 November 2025 | Office Costs | Service charge & ground Rent | Service charge for office - November | £534 | £534 |
| 17 October 2025 | Office Costs | Service charge & ground Rent | Service charge November | £534 | £534 |
| 26 September 2025 | Office Costs | Service charge & ground Rent | Service Charge October | £534 | £534 |
| 3 September 2025 | Office Costs | Service charge & ground Rent | September service charge | £534 | £534 |
| 19 August 2025 | Office Costs | Service charge & ground Rent | Office service charges | £534 | £534 |
| 27 June 2025 | Office Costs | Service charge & ground Rent | Office service charges | £534 | £534 |
| 22 May 2025 | Office Costs | Service charge & ground Rent | Service charge for June 2025 | £534 | £534 |
| 25 April 2025 | Office Costs | Service charge & ground Rent | Service Charges | £534 | £534 |
| 10 April 2025 | Accommodation | Council tax | Council Tax | £434 | £434 |
| 10 November 2025 | Accommodation | Council tax | Council Tax | £432 | £432 |
| 10 October 2025 | Accommodation | Council tax | Council Tax | £432 | £432 |
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 Hilary Benn 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 · Hilary Benn’s register of interests and votes · Sources