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, 2022-23

59 claims, £215,234 paid. The headings are IPSA’s own categories grouped; the categories inside each are named on the register page.

CategoryWhat it coversClaimsPaidShare
StaffingThe 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£204,11194.8%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.52£10,0154.7%
TravelJourneys 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.6£1,1080.5%

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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelTotal
2010-1143£66,624£10,928£3,865£81,416
2011-1260£111,550£8,811£5,859£126,221
2012-13112£110,414£16,181£6,216£132,811
2013-14139£124,058£22,201£6,028£152,287
2014-1549£129,182£16,177£4,126£149,485
2015-1628£118,890£11,041£2,583£132,514
2016-1759£138,678£9,080£3,288£151,046
2017-1836£117,831£22,623£12,218£152,672
2018-1968£129,698£19,297£4,068£153,064
2019-2077£148,238£7,317£15,167£6,996£177,718
2020-2139£168,624£7,807£26,000£179£202,611
2021-2228£180,688£5,172£28,788£231£214,879
2022-2359£204,111£10,015£1,108£215,234
2023-2478£224,000£11,929£2,255£238,184
2024-2560£223,650£16,670£4,698£245,018
2025-2632£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, 2022-23

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£204,111

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Website hosting and design12£4,379
Stationery & printing30£2,397
Equipment - purchase7£1,101
Pooled staffing services1£1,030
Software & applications1£600
Working From Home Allowance1£508

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Mileage - car1£632
Rail3£413
Other public transport1£38
Taxi1£25

Largest claims, 2022-23

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.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
31 March 2023StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year£204,111£204,111
21 November 2022Office CostsPooled staffing servicesPolicy Research Unit (Conservative)£1,030£1,030
8 November 2022Office CostsEquipment - purchaseComputer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories£964£964
31 March 2023Staff TravelMileage - carAggregated figure for travel during 2022-23£632£632
15 July 2022Office CostsSoftware & applicationsCaseworker system invoice£600£600
1 March 2023Office CostsWebsite hosting and designwww.priti4witham.co.uk£515£515
31 March 2023Office CostsWorking From Home AllowanceAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2022-23£508£508
1 July 2022Office CostsWebsite hosting and designwww.priti4witham.co.uk£500£500
1 June 2022Office CostsWebsite hosting and designwww.priti4witham.co.uk£439£439
1 October 2022Office CostsWebsite hosting and designwww.priti4witham.co.uk£395£395
1 February 2023Office CostsWebsite hosting and designwww.priti4witham.co.uk£340£340
1 January 2023Office CostsWebsite hosting and designwww.priti4witham.co.uk£340£340
1 December 2022Office CostsWebsite hosting and designwww.priti4witham.co.uk£340£340
1 November 2022Office CostsWebsite hosting and designwww.priti4witham.co.uk£340£340
1 September 2022Office CostsWebsite hosting and designwww.priti4witham.co.uk£340£340

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