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, 2020-21

154 claims, £221,997 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	£172,154	77.5%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	122	£24,734	11.1%
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.	22	£19,323	8.7%
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.	8	£5,786	2.6%

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, 2020-21

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£172,123
Health & welfare - staff	1	£31

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Advertising and contact cards	12	£4,102
Rent	11	£3,894
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	16	£3,888
Utilities	9	£2,137
Translation services (Welsh Language)	4	£2,087
Equipment - hire	5	£1,918

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	11	£16,922
Council tax	1	£1,281
Utilities	10	£1,120

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Mileage - car	4	£4,314
Rail	1	£797
Congestion charge & toll	1	£533
Parking	1	£91
Other public transport	1	£50

Largest claims, 2020-21

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 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£172,123	£172,123
31 March 2021	MP Travel	Mileage - car	Aggregated figure for travel during 2020-21	£3,624	£3,624
31 March 2021	Office Costs	Working From Home Allowance	Aggregated figure for 2020-21	£1,559	£1,559
2 March 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,538	£1,538
2 February 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,538	£1,538
6 January 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,538	£1,538
1 December 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,538	£1,538
1 November 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,538	£1,538
4 October 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,538	£1,538
1 September 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,538	£1,538
1 August 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,538	£1,538
1 July 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,538	£1,538
10 June 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,538	£1,538
6 May 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,538	£1,538
22 July 2020	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	BRECON & RADNOR EXPRES	£1,392	£1,392

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