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, 2018-19

157 claims, £162,508 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.	29	£123,984	76.3%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	97	£10,989	6.8%
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.	30	£22,212	13.7%
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	£5,323	3.3%

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, 2018-19

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£118,400
Pooled Services: Direct	2	£5,094
Volunteer Agreed Arrang. Costs	26	£490

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	12	£5,980
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	56	£2,679
Professional Services: Direct	1	£900
Stationery Purchase	12	£846
Tel/Mobile Purchase	1	£260
Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting	12	£216

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	13	£20,540
Council Tax	1	£711
Telephone Usage/Rental	13	£567
Electricity	3	£395

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£5,323

Largest claims, 2018-19

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 2019	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year	£118,400	£118,400
31 March 2019	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2018-19	£5,323	£5,323
6 April 2018	Staffing	Pooled Services: Direct	PRU	£3,094	£3,094
1 April 2018	Staffing	Pooled Services: Direct	ERG	£2,000	£2,000
29 January 2019	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,712	£1,712
19 December 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,712	£1,712
22 November 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,712	£1,712
24 October 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,712	£1,712
25 September 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,712	£1,712
25 August 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,712	£1,712
25 July 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,712	£1,712
29 June 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,712	£1,712
29 May 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,712	£1,712
25 April 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,712	£1,712
1 April 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,712	£1,712

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