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, 2021-22

145 claims, £246,593 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	£193,974	78.7%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	115	£23,045	9.3%
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.	14	£22,710	9.2%
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	£6,864	2.8%

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, 2021-22

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£193,974

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	1	£4,248
Stationery & printing	20	£2,815
Utilities	11	£2,101
Equipment - hire	4	£1,913
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	8	£1,823
Working From Home Allowance	1	£1,746

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	1	£18,460
Council tax	2	£2,775
Utilities	11	£1,475

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Mileage - car	4	£3,555
Rail	4	£2,508
Congestion charge & toll	1	£298
Parking	1	£293
Subsistence	2	£127
Hotel - UK Not London	1	£45

Largest claims, 2021-22

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 2022	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£193,974	£193,974
31 March 2022	Accommodation	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£18,460	£18,460
31 March 2022	Office Costs	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£4,248	£4,248
31 March 2022	MP Travel	Mileage - car	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£2,021	£2,021
31 March 2022	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£1,991	£1,991
31 March 2022	Office Costs	Working From Home Allowance	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£1,746	£1,746
31 March 2021	Office Costs	Translation services (Welsh Language)	Translation of letters/emails to be sent to constituents from MP	£1,428	£1,428
11 April 2022	Accommodation	Council tax	Council tax	£1,417	£1,417
17 May 2021	Accommodation	Council tax	L B SOUTHWARK - INT	£1,358	£1,358
31 March 2022	MP Travel	Mileage - car	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£919	£919
9 February 2022	Office Costs	Utilities	Gas	£757	£757
17 March 2022	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	Ink cartridges for Westminster office	£702	£702
29 October 2021	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Other office equipment	£606	£606
15 June 2021	Office Costs	Software & applications	ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES	£600	£600
4 January 2022	Office Costs	Equipment - hire	Printer, photocopier & scanner	£514	£514

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