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, 2018-19

32 claims, £145,924 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	£137,675	94.3%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	30	£7,178	4.9%
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	£1,071	0.7%

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, 2018-19

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£137,675

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Professional Services: Direct	1	£3,094
Stationery Purchase	17	£2,297
Computer SW Purchase	1	£900
Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting	7	£651
Newspapers/Journals	1	£166
Other	1	£35

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£1,071

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	£137,675	£137,675
11 May 2018	Office Costs	Professional Services: Direct	PRU	£3,094	£3,094
31 March 2019	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2018-19	£1,071	£1,071
11 May 2018	Office Costs	Computer SW Purchase	PRU	£900	£900
20 August 2018	Office Costs	Stationery Purchase	Banner	£451	£451
8 October 2018	Office Costs	Stationery Purchase	Banner	£408	£408
17 December 2018	Office Costs	Stationery Purchase	Printer Ink Purchase	£385	£385
25 July 2018	Office Costs	Stationery Purchase	Banner	£293	£293
23 May 2018	Office Costs	Stationery Purchase	Constituency banners	£270	£270
27 November 2018	Office Costs	Stationery Purchase	Banner	£264	£264
8 November 2018	Office Costs	Newspapers/Journals	OD IPSA Card - November 2018	£166	£166
7 August 2018	Office Costs	Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting	August 2018 IPSA Card	£100	£100
2 November 2018	Office Costs	Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting	OD IPSA Card - November 2018	£96	£96
4 June 2018	Office Costs	Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting	Parli credit card claim	£96	£96
21 January 2019	Office Costs	Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting	January Expenditure	£95	£95

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