MPs’ business costs
Sir Oliver Dowden
IPSA paid £1,617,942 against 436 published rows for Sir Oliver Dowden between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Hertsmere 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, 2016-17
44 claims, £149,427 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. | 1 | £137,549 | 92.1% |
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 42 | £10,691 | 7.2% |
| 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 | £1,187 | 0.8% |
Every year in the register
Sir Oliver Dowden’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.
| Year | Claims | Staffing | Office costs | Travel | Starting up and winding up | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-16 | 43 | £85,758 | £5,393 | £671 | £2,628 | £94,450 |
| 2016-17 | 44 | £137,549 | £10,691 | £1,187 | — | £149,427 |
| 2017-18 | 32 | £161,494 | £5,771 | £1,868 | — | £169,133 |
| 2018-19 | 32 | £137,675 | £7,178 | £1,071 | — | £145,924 |
| 2019-20 | 75 | £155,315 | £9,353 | £653 | — | £165,321 |
| 2020-21 | 24 | £142,552 | £11,678 | £71 | — | £154,301 |
| 2021-22 | 19 | £156,377 | £6,317 | £361 | — | £163,055 |
| 2022-23 | 35 | £151,205 | £6,417 | £372 | — | £157,993 |
| 2023-24 | 44 | £181,587 | £6,283 | £246 | — | £188,116 |
| 2024-25 | 56 | £215,068 | £10,461 | £415 | — | £225,945 |
| 2025-26 | 32 | — | £4,277 | — | — | £4,277 |
A year in which Sir Oliver Dowden 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, 2016-17
The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.
Staffing
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll | 1 | £137,549 |
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Stationery Purchase | 19 | £3,174 |
| Professional Services: Direct | 1 | £2,670 |
| Computer HW Purchase | 1 | £1,175 |
| Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting | 10 | £1,127 |
| Computer SW Purchase | 1 | £900 |
| Advertising | 2 | £797 |
Travel
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Aggregated Travel Costs | 1 | £1,187 |
Largest claims, 2016-17
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 2017 | Staffing | Payroll | Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year | £137,549 | £137,549 |
| 25 May 2016 | Office Costs | Professional Services: Direct | PRU | £2,670 | £2,670 |
| 18 October 2016 | Office Costs | Stationery Purchase | Banner | £1,481 | £1,481 |
| 31 March 2017 | Travel | Aggregated Travel Costs | Aggregated figure for travel during 2016-17 | £1,187 | £1,187 |
| 15 March 2017 | Office Costs | Computer HW Purchase | Credit card costs March 2017 | £1,175 | £1,175 |
| 25 May 2016 | Office Costs | Computer SW Purchase | PRU | £900 | £900 |
| 16 September 2016 | Office Costs | Stationery Purchase | Langfords Stationary | £593 | £593 |
| 10 May 2016 | Office Costs | Advertising | May payment card | £592 | £592 |
| 22 April 2016 | Office Costs | Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting | — | £450 | £450 |
| 7 December 2016 | Office Costs | Stationery Purchase | XMA Ltd | £273 | £273 |
| 26 January 2017 | Office Costs | Stationery Purchase | Parliamentary credit card | £217 | £217 |
| 10 May 2016 | Office Costs | Advertising | May payment card | £205 | £205 |
| 29 November 2016 | Office Costs | Newspapers/Journals | Oct-Dec 2016 | £198 | £198 |
| 8 November 2016 | Office Costs | Newspapers/Journals | Surgeries and subscriptions | £166 | £166 |
| 20 January 2017 | Office Costs | Newspapers/Journals | Annual sub to Herts Advertiser | £164 | £164 |
Claims refused and money repaid, 2016-17
1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £15 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 Sir Oliver Dowden 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 · Sir Oliver Dowden’s register of interests and votes · Sources