MPs’ business costs

Louise Haigh

IPSA paid £2,028,439 against 1,505 published rows for Louise Haigh between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Sheffield, Heeley BC, then Sheffield Heeley 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, 2024-25

150 claims, £226,185 paid. The headings are IPSA’s own categories grouped; the categories inside each are named on the register page.

CategoryWhat it coversClaimsPaidShare
StaffingThe 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£178,31478.8%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.125£21,0789.3%
AccommodationThe 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£23,05010.2%
TravelJourneys 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.3£3,7431.7%

Every year in the register

Louise Haigh’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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelStarting up and winding upMiscellaneousTotal
2015-16118£106,589£10,683£12,940£2,937£5,146£108£138,403
2016-17147£138,927£22,328£17,622£5,377£184,254
2017-18141£150,031£22,432£16,704£2,866£192,033
2018-19147£152,497£19,485£16,914£6,653£195,549
2019-20135£149,923£15,671£14,692£7,698£187,985
2020-21113£156,068£23,952£16,927£3,115£200,062
2021-22122£150,473£25,578£16,823£5,716£198,589
2022-23182£167,736£26,049£17,769£6,066£217,621
2023-24180£204,948£26,971£23,881£5,384£261,184
2024-25150£178,314£21,078£23,050£3,743£226,185
2025-2670£23,848£2,727£26,576

A year in which Louise Haigh 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, 2024-25

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£178,314

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent1£9,601
Utilities24£2,136
Equipment - hire5£1,963
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs3£1,834
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage10£1,525
Software & applications26£1,446

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent1£21,690
Utilities18£771
Council tax2£589

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail3£3,743

Largest claims, 2024-25

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.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
31 March 2025StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year£178,314£178,314
31 March 2025AccommodationRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£21,690£21,690
31 March 2025Office CostsRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£9,601£9,601
31 March 2025MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£3,408£3,408
26 March 2025Office CostsEquipment - hirePrinter, photocopier & scanner£1,680£1,680
28 February 2025Office CostsMaintenance, Redecorations & RepairsRepainting of the constituency office£1,670£1,670
19 March 2025Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES [200011725-5480]£738£738
13 May 2024AccommodationCouncil taxWANDSWORTH COUNCIL£534£534
11 July 2024Office CostsMobile telephone - equipment purchasePurchase of an electronic notepad£429£429
23 May 2024Office CostsUtilitiesWater£378£378
24 May 2024Office CostsInsurance - buildingsAnnual building insurance cover£315£315
27 June 2024Office CostsLandline phone & internet - rental & usageLandline & internet package£203£203
23 May 2024Office CostsLandline phone & internet - rental & usageLandline & internet package£201£201
10 June 2024Office CostsLandline phone & internet - rental & usageLandline & internet package£197£197
31 March 2025Staff TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£195£195

Claims refused and money repaid, 2024-25

2 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £116 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 Louise Haigh 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 · Louise Haigh’s register of interests and votes · Sources