MPs’ business costs

Liz Twist

IPSA paid £1,898,812 against 1,832 published rows for Liz Twist between 2017-18 and 2025-26 as the member for Blaydon BC, then Blaydon and Consett 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, 2022-23

237 claims, £256,927 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	£203,243	79.1%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	183	£26,990	10.5%
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.	40	£19,995	7.8%
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.	12	£6,699	2.6%

Every year in the register

Liz Twist’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2017-18 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	Miscellaneous	Total
2017-18	136	£112,367	£26,004	£15,960	£7,751	—	£162,083
2018-19	188	£149,839	£22,494	£19,863	£8,112	—	£200,308
2019-20	251	£141,546	£20,455	£18,172	£8,905	—	£189,078
2020-21	187	£181,543	£29,414	£18,107	£3,691	£2,105	£234,860
2021-22	193	£199,813	£23,231	£19,824	£5,632	—	£248,501
2022-23	237	£203,243	£26,990	£19,995	£6,699	—	£256,927
2023-24	273	£224,964	£26,353	£22,572	£7,289	—	£281,178
2024-25	249	£245,440	£25,670	£22,772	£10,101	—	£303,983
2025-26	118	—	£19,444	£2,451	—	—	£21,895

A year in which Liz Twist 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, 2022-23

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£203,015
Training - staff	1	£228

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Pooled staffing services	1	£4,200
Rent	2	£3,429
Utilities	28	£2,616
Stationery & printing	66	£2,533
Mobile telephone - contract & usage	12	£2,270
Landline phone & internet - installation & equipment purchase	1	£1,909

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	12	£17,400
Council tax	10	£1,661
Utilities	4	£538
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	14	£397

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	3	£6,155
Mileage - car	3	£370
Other public transport	2	£78
Taxi	2	£63
Railcard	1	£30
Parking	1	£3

Largest claims, 2022-23

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 2023	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year	£203,015	£203,015
31 March 2023	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£4,527	£4,527
18 May 2022	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£4,200	£4,200
6 November 2022	Office Costs	Landline phone & internet - installation & equipment purchase	Landline & internet package	£1,909	£1,909
5 April 2022	Office Costs	Rent	Rent and service charge 1/4/22 - 30/9/22	£1,786	£1,786
1 October 2022	Office Costs	Rent	Office rent and service charge -1 Oct 22 - 31 March 23	£1,643	£1,643
31 March 2023	Staff Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£1,570	£1,570
23 March 2023	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,450	£1,450
23 February 2023	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,450	£1,450
24 January 2023	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,450	£1,450
27 December 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,450	£1,450
25 November 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,450	£1,450
26 October 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,450	£1,450
27 September 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,450	£1,450
23 August 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,450	£1,450

Claims refused and money repaid, 2022-23

2 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £110 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 Liz Twist 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 Twist’s register of interests and votes · Sources