MPs’ business costs

Martin Vickers

IPSA paid £2,316,777 against 1,806 published rows for Martin Vickers between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Cleethorpes CC, then Brigg and Immingham 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, 2011-12

116 claims, £130,281 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.4£93,67971.9%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.81£13,62710.5%
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.29£18,34614.1%
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.1£4,6103.5%
MiscellaneousClaims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.1£180.0%

Every year in the register

Martin Vickers’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2010-11 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 costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2010-1199£57,920£14,908£15,105£4,445£92,378
2011-12116£93,679£13,627£18,346£4,610£18£130,281
2012-13134£89,627£15,865£17,209£5,484£128,185
2013-14164£102,540£10,151£17,135£4,849£134,676
2014-15123£112,932£11,106£16,361£5,083£145,483
2015-16111£98,140£11,389£17,420£4,333£131,283
2016-17103£81,654£10,995£20,892£5,647£119,189
2017-18115£88,244£15,648£20,196£2,900£126,988
2018-19157£123,984£10,989£22,212£5,323£162,508
2019-20120£125,632£12,534£23,451£5,046£722£167,385
2020-2193£143,071£13,571£23,754£2,962£49£183,406
2021-22100£142,055£13,807£23,814£4,680£184,357
2022-23111£144,619£17,127£24,695£7,781£144£194,366
2023-24107£151,115£10,047£26,801£8,021£195,984
2024-2595£163,874£11,874£27,836£7,188£210,772
2025-2658£8,068£1,469£9,537

A year in which Martin Vickers 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, 2011-12

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£87,634
Pooled Staffing Services1£3,960
Professional Services (Staff.)1£1,950
Public Tr RAIL Int/Volntr - RT1£135

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Const Office Rent12£5,200
Stationery Purchase21£2,615
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental3£1,280
Payment Telephone/Mobile19£1,225
Computer HW Purchase1£812
Mobile Usage/Rental7£632

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Accommodation Rent13£16,094
Council Tax4£1,073
Gas3£473
Water3£310
Electricity4£217
Television Licence1£146

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Aggregated Travel Costs1£4,610

Miscellaneous

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Contingency1£18

Largest claims, 2011-12

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 2012StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2011-12 year£87,634£87,634
31 March 2012TravelAggregated Travel CostsAggregated figure for travel during 2011-12£4,610£4,610
3 June 2011StaffingPooled Staffing ServicesPRU£3,960£3,960
27 April 2011StaffingProfessional Services (Staff.)European Research Group£1,950£1,950
12 July 2011AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,350£1,350
15 June 2011AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,350£1,350
17 May 2011AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,350£1,350
4 April 2011AccommodationAccommodation RentApril Rent on London Flat£1,350£1,350
19 March 2012AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,300£1,300
20 February 2012AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,300£1,300
20 January 2012AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,300£1,300
20 December 2011AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,300£1,300
20 November 2011AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,300£1,300
20 October 2011AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,300£1,300
27 September 2011AccommodationAccommodation RentRent on London Flat£1,300£1,300

Claims refused and money repaid, 2011-12

2 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £14 not paid and £143 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 Martin Vickers 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 · Martin Vickers’s register of interests and votes · Sources