MPs’ business costs

Dame Nia Griffith

IPSA paid £2,911,548 against 2,237 published rows for Dame Nia Griffith between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Llanelli 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, 2019-20

180 claims, £183,471 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.	11	£153,531	83.7%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	142	£20,261	11.0%
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.	23	£9,084	5.0%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	4	£595	0.3%

Every year in the register

Dame Nia Griffith’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	Travel	Miscellaneous	Total
2010-11	56	£91,889	£15,897	£8,676	—	£116,462
2011-12	119	£138,862	£21,374	£9,472	—	£169,708
2012-13	199	£122,356	£22,850	£6,312	—	£151,518
2013-14	328	£147,920	£22,449	£5,874	—	£176,243
2014-15	138	£138,377	£22,092	£7,257	—	£167,726
2015-16	119	£142,667	£21,408	£7,084	—	£171,159
2016-17	124	£140,792	£25,224	£8,655	£991	£175,662
2017-18	170	£150,900	£23,663	£8,158	£261	£182,983
2018-19	177	£153,132	£24,287	£9,182	£1,498	£188,100
2019-20	180	£153,531	£20,261	£9,084	£595	£183,471
2020-21	139	£171,009	£24,436	£3,358	£804	£199,607
2021-22	103	£190,806	£19,793	£5,253	£487	£216,339
2022-23	114	£218,139	£22,814	£6,768	£1,233	£248,954
2023-24	113	£234,084	£23,079	£9,313	£1,532	£268,008
2024-25	109	£240,751	£28,339	£9,103	£1,108	£279,301
2025-26	49	—	£14,399	—	£1,905	£16,304

A year in which Dame Nia Griffith 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, 2019-20

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£152,854
Volunteer - agreed arrangement costs	10	£677

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	4	£4,452
Pooled staffing services	1	£3,600
Equipment - hire	11	£2,655
Stationery & printing	31	£2,043
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	3	£1,738
Cleaning services	14	£1,066

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	4	£4,848
Air travel	4	£1,587
Mileage - car	4	£502
Parking	2	£495
Railcard	2	£380
Hotel - London	1	£350

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Translation services (Welsh Language)	4	£595

Largest claims, 2019-20

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 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£152,854	£152,854
3 June 2019	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£3,600	£3,600
31 March 2020	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2019-20	£3,492	£3,492
31 March 2020	Staff Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2019-20	£1,167	£1,167
24 February 2020	Office Costs	Equipment - hire	Printer, photocopier & scanner	£1,156	£1,156
4 March 2020	Office Costs	Rent	—	£1,113	£1,113
5 December 2019	Office Costs	Rent	—	£1,113	£1,113
1 September 2019	Office Costs	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,113	£1,113
1 June 2019	Office Costs	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,113	£1,113
31 July 2019	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	Payment for printing	£832	£832
4 July 2019	Office Costs	Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	Landline & internet package	£592	£592
20 February 2020	Office Costs	Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	Landline & internet package	£575	£575
14 October 2019	Office Costs	Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	Landline & internet package	£571	£571
31 March 2020	MP Travel	Air travel	Aggregated figure for travel during 2019-20	£528	£528
14 May 2019	Office Costs	Software & applications	ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES	£500	£500

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 Dame Nia Griffith 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 · Dame Nia Griffith’s register of interests and votes · Sources