MPs’ business costs

Justin Madders

IPSA paid £2,088,995 against 1,552 published rows for Justin Madders between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Ellesmere Port and Neston CC, then Ellesmere Port and Bromborough 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, 2019-20

159 claims, £180,728 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	£140,740	77.9%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	126	£18,460	10.2%
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.	17	£16,084	8.9%
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.	15	£5,443	3.0%

Every year in the register

Justin Madders’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	Accommodation	Travel	Starting up and winding up	Miscellaneous	Total
2015-16	101	£94,728	£10,246	£15,071	£5,224	£3,035	£552	£128,857
2016-17	118	£131,233	£17,118	£19,568	£6,486	£133	—	£174,538
2017-18	131	£142,526	£18,241	£18,646	£5,162	—	—	£184,576
2018-19	129	£145,904	£19,401	£18,733	£7,269	—	—	£191,306
2019-20	159	£140,740	£18,460	£16,084	£5,443	—	—	£180,728
2020-21	156	£161,382	£22,621	£19,969	£5,626	—	—	£209,598
2021-22	142	£164,566	£21,042	£21,446	£6,267	—	—	£213,321
2022-23	154	£183,291	£23,580	£17,533	£7,518	—	—	£231,923
2023-24	183	£197,306	£30,007	£22,121	£8,051	—	—	£257,485
2024-25	189	£241,471	£23,372	£23,843	£10,587	—	—	£299,272
2025-26	90	—	£14,155	£3,236	—	—	—	£17,391

A year in which Justin Madders 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, 2019-20

The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£140,740

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	11	£6,600
Pooled staffing services	4	£3,600
Stationery & printing	43	£2,792
Equipment - hire	20	£1,390
Utilities	6	£1,281
Software & applications	3	£1,028

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	10	£14,919
Council tax	1	£843
Utilities	6	£322

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	6	£4,411
Mileage - car	3	£804
Other public transport	2	£164
Congestion charge & toll	2	£52
Parking	2	£13

Largest claims, 2019-20

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 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£140,740	£140,740
31 March 2020	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2019-20	£4,222	£4,222
11 March 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,496	£1,496
15 January 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,496	£1,496
12 December 2019	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,496	£1,496
8 November 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,496	£1,496
10 October 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,496	£1,496
11 September 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,496	£1,496
8 August 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,496	£1,496
10 July 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,496	£1,496
8 June 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,496	£1,496
8 May 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,459	£1,459
7 February 2020	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£900	£900
5 November 2019	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£900	£900
23 July 2019	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£900	£900

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 Justin Madders 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 · Justin Madders’s register of interests and votes · Sources