MPs’ business costs

Priti Patel

IPSA paid £2,533,888 against 967 published rows for Priti Patel between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Witham 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, 2015-16

28 claims, £132,514 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	£118,890	89.7%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	26	£11,041	8.3%
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	£2,583	1.9%

Every year in the register

Priti Patel’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	Total
2010-11	43	£66,624	£10,928	—	£3,865	£81,416
2011-12	60	£111,550	£8,811	—	£5,859	£126,221
2012-13	112	£110,414	£16,181	—	£6,216	£132,811
2013-14	139	£124,058	£22,201	—	£6,028	£152,287
2014-15	49	£129,182	£16,177	—	£4,126	£149,485
2015-16	28	£118,890	£11,041	—	£2,583	£132,514
2016-17	59	£138,678	£9,080	—	£3,288	£151,046
2017-18	36	£117,831	£22,623	—	£12,218	£152,672
2018-19	68	£129,698	£19,297	—	£4,068	£153,064
2019-20	77	£148,238	£7,317	£15,167	£6,996	£177,718
2020-21	39	£168,624	£7,807	£26,000	£179	£202,611
2021-22	28	£180,688	£5,172	£28,788	£231	£214,879
2022-23	59	£204,111	£10,015	—	£1,108	£215,234
2023-24	78	£224,000	£11,929	—	£2,255	£238,184
2024-25	60	£223,650	£16,670	—	£4,698	£245,018
2025-26	32	—	£8,729	—	—	£8,729

A year in which Priti Patel 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, 2015-16

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£118,890

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Stationery Purchase	17	£3,026
Professional Services: Direct	1	£2,960
Website - Design/Production	1	£2,653
Software Purchase	2	£1,300
Legal Exp/Emp Practice Insur.	1	£578
Postage Purchase	2	£324

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£2,583

Largest claims, 2015-16

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 2016	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year	£118,890	£118,890
24 July 2015	Office Costs	Professional Services: Direct	PRU	£2,960	£2,960
12 May 2015	Office Costs	Website - Design/Production	Parli website	£2,653	£2,653
31 March 2016	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2015-16	£2,583	£2,583
19 July 2015	Office Costs	Software Purchase	caseworker computer system	£1,000	£1,000
7 January 2016	Office Costs	Stationery Purchase	letterhead	£722	£722
9 August 2015	Office Costs	Legal Exp/Emp Practice Insur.	EPL	£578	£578
15 February 2016	Office Costs	Stationery Purchase	Commercial	£439	£439
15 February 2016	Office Costs	Stationery Purchase	Commercial	£325	£325
24 June 2015	Office Costs	Stationery Purchase	Commercial	£316	£316
12 August 2015	Office Costs	Software Purchase	cmits April-Sept 2015	£300	£300
14 September 2015	Office Costs	Stationery Purchase	Commercial	£219	£219
24 June 2015	Office Costs	Stationery Purchase	Commercial	£219	£219
9 June 2015	Office Costs	Postage Purchase	2nd class postage	£216	£216
17 November 2015	Office Costs	Contact Cards	end of year contact card	£196	£196

Claims refused and money repaid, 2015-16

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £60 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 Priti Patel 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 · Priti Patel’s register of interests and votes · Sources