MPs’ business costs

Kirsty Blackman

IPSA paid £2,153,138 against 1,825 published rows for Kirsty Blackman between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Aberdeen North 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, 2017-18

193 claims, £186,406 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.	2	£125,941	67.6%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	146	£22,509	12.1%
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.	44	£27,651	14.8%
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	£10,304	5.5%

Every year in the register

Kirsty Blackman’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	146	£82,199	£23,695	£22,764	£18,783	£6,000	—	£153,441
2016-17	195	£139,382	£20,468	£24,994	£14,802	—	—	£199,646
2017-18	193	£125,941	£22,509	£27,651	£10,304	—	—	£186,406
2018-19	188	£138,487	£22,459	£27,939	£21,118	—	—	£210,003
2019-20	184	£135,579	£20,076	£25,152	£17,645	—	—	£198,452
2020-21	129	£130,194	£20,095	£27,762	£1,213	—	—	£179,264
2021-22	167	£146,530	£22,003	£29,168	£12,930	—	£5	£210,637
2022-23	205	£142,813	£22,742	£32,707	£27,044	—	—	£225,307
2023-24	186	£169,780	£22,166	£36,744	£21,859	—	—	£250,549
2024-25	172	£213,507	£29,179	£39,262	£42,992	—	£252	£325,192
2025-26	60	—	£12,615	£1,626	—	—	—	£14,241

A year in which Kirsty Blackman 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, 2017-18

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£115,441
Pooled Services	1	£10,500

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	5	£9,942
IT/Other Equipment Hire	10	£3,495
Const Office Electricity	4	£1,992
Const Office Cleaning	35	£1,625
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	33	£1,523
Stationery Purchase	16	£698

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	14	£23,388
Ground Rent	5	£2,495
Council Tax	5	£1,023
Telephone Usage/Rental	9	£323
Electricity	4	£215
Water	5	£146

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£10,304

Largest claims, 2017-18

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	£115,441	£115,441
17 July 2017	Staffing	Pooled Services	SNP Group	£10,500	£10,500
31 March 2018	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2017-18	£10,304	£10,304
17 November 2017	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£2,400	£2,400
18 August 2017	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£2,400	£2,400
18 May 2017	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£2,400	£2,400
2 March 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,167	£2,167
21 January 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,167	£2,167
21 December 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,167	£2,167
4 December 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,167	£2,167
3 November 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,167	£2,167
3 October 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,167	£2,167
27 June 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
25 May 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
25 April 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885

Claims refused and money repaid, 2017-18

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £228 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 Kirsty Blackman 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 · Kirsty Blackman’s register of interests and votes · Sources