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, 2014-15

123 claims, £145,483 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	£112,932	77.6%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	95	£11,106	7.6%
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.	25	£16,361	11.2%
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.	1	£5,083	3.5%

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.

Year	Claims	Staffing	Office costs	Accommodation	Travel	Miscellaneous	Total
2010-11	99	£57,920	£14,908	£15,105	£4,445	—	£92,378
2011-12	116	£93,679	£13,627	£18,346	£4,610	£18	£130,281
2012-13	134	£89,627	£15,865	£17,209	£5,484	—	£128,185
2013-14	164	£102,540	£10,151	£17,135	£4,849	—	£134,676
2014-15	123	£112,932	£11,106	£16,361	£5,083	—	£145,483
2015-16	111	£98,140	£11,389	£17,420	£4,333	—	£131,283
2016-17	103	£81,654	£10,995	£20,892	£5,647	—	£119,189
2017-18	115	£88,244	£15,648	£20,196	£2,900	—	£126,988
2018-19	157	£123,984	£10,989	£22,212	£5,323	—	£162,508
2019-20	120	£125,632	£12,534	£23,451	£5,046	£722	£167,385
2020-21	93	£143,071	£13,571	£23,754	£2,962	£49	£183,406
2021-22	100	£142,055	£13,807	£23,814	£4,680	—	£184,357
2022-23	111	£144,619	£17,127	£24,695	£7,781	£144	£194,366
2023-24	107	£151,115	£10,047	£26,801	£8,021	—	£195,984
2024-25	95	£163,874	£11,874	£27,836	£7,188	—	£210,772
2025-26	58	—	£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, 2014-15

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£110,312
Pooled Services: Direct	1	£2,620

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	12	£5,200
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	43	£2,961
Stationery Purchase	22	£1,310
Computer SW Purchase	1	£1,000
Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting	12	£317
Other Equip Purchase	1	£145

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	12	£14,510
Council Tax	2	£1,075
Electricity	4	£381
Television Licence	1	£146
Water	2	£135
Gas	4	£114

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£5,083

Largest claims, 2014-15

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 2015	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2014-15 year	£110,312	£110,312
31 March 2015	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2014-15	£5,083	£5,083
3 November 2014	Staffing	Pooled Services: Direct	PRU	£2,620	£2,620
19 February 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,300	£1,300
21 January 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,300	£1,300
22 December 2014	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,300	£1,300
21 November 2014	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,300	£1,300
16 October 2014	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,300	£1,300
17 September 2014	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,300	£1,300
19 August 2014	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,300	£1,300
15 July 2014	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,300	£1,300
20 June 2014	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,300	£1,300
19 May 2014	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,300	£1,300
22 April 2014	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,300	£1,300
3 November 2014	Office Costs	Computer SW Purchase	PRU	£1,000	£1,000

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