MPs’ business costs

Liz Saville Roberts

IPSA paid £2,286,382 against 1,904 published rows for Liz Saville Roberts between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Dwyfor Meirionnydd 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, 2015-16

126 claims, £136,270 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	£92,569	67.9%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	100	£13,947	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.	21	£17,592	12.9%
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.	1	£9,630	7.1%
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.	3	£2,532	1.9%

Every year in the register

Liz Saville Roberts’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	126	£92,569	£13,947	£17,592	£9,630	£2,532	—	£136,270
2016-17	213	£135,505	£22,279	£19,926	£11,094	—	—	£188,805
2017-18	203	£148,757	£17,461	£20,431	£11,795	—	£163	£198,607
2018-19	192	£145,899	£19,847	£20,736	£12,885	—	£203	£199,570
2019-20	163	£147,521	£22,927	£20,410	£13,475	—	—	£204,333
2020-21	154	£172,154	£24,734	£19,323	£5,786	—	—	£221,997
2021-22	145	£193,974	£23,045	£22,710	£6,864	—	—	£246,593
2022-23	203	£196,752	£28,838	£20,923	£11,025	—	£568	£258,106
2023-24	179	£220,515	£27,506	£23,937	£11,564	—	£214	£283,735
2024-25	230	£249,794	£32,596	£25,648	£17,733	—	£1,076	£326,846
2025-26	96	£1,785	£18,518	£1,217	—	—	—	£21,519

A year in which Liz Saville Roberts 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	£92,569

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	8	£2,506
IT/Other Equipment Hire	12	£1,473
Stationery Purchase	13	£1,406
Advertising	20	£1,386
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	10	£1,271
Website - Design/Production	1	£1,224

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	10	£14,950
Council Tax	1	£893
Water	2	£690
Hotel London Area	2	£598
Gas	3	£232
Service Charges	1	£141

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£9,630

Starting up and winding up

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Office Alterations StartUp	3	£2,532

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	£92,569	£92,569
31 March 2016	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2015-16	£9,630	£9,630
7 March 2016	Start Up	Office Alterations StartUp	Jan / March 2016	£1,846	£1,846
25 February 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,495	£1,495
27 January 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,495	£1,495
25 December 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,495	£1,495
25 November 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,495	£1,495
27 October 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,495	£1,495
24 September 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,495	£1,495
27 August 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,495	£1,495
27 July 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,495	£1,495
1 July 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	[***]	£1,495	£1,495
2 June 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	1st months rent	£1,495	£1,495
9 February 2016	Office Costs	Website - Design/Production	Dec / Jan / Feb 2016	£1,224	£1,224
9 November 2015	Accommodation	Council Tax	Oct/ Nov 2015	£893	£893

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 Liz Saville Roberts 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 · Liz Saville Roberts’s register of interests and votes · Sources