MPs’ business costs

Saqib Bhatti

IPSA paid £1,176,808 against 664 published rows for Saqib Bhatti between 2019-20 and 2025-26 as the member for Meriden CC, then Meriden and Solihull East 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, 2023-24

154 claims, £226,718 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.	8	£158,524	69.9%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	103	£29,477	13.0%
Accommodation	The cost of somewhere to stay for an MP whose constituency is far enough from Westminster that IPSA's rules allow it. An MP representing a London seat is not eligible on the same terms.	27	£29,497	13.0%
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.	16	£9,219	4.1%

Every year in the register

Saqib Bhatti’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2019-20 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
2019-20	68	£19,342	£3,592	£8,623	£2,747	£34,304
2020-21	83	£141,874	£18,322	£23,278	£3,683	£187,158
2021-22	63	£153,310	£27,905	£27,545	£5,665	£214,425
2022-23	118	£168,489	£17,915	£24,060	£10,711	£221,174
2023-24	154	£158,524	£29,477	£29,497	£9,219	£226,718
2024-25	111	£196,156	£19,108	£41,387	£9,918	£266,569
2025-26	67	£1,399	£18,452	£6,608	—	£26,460

A year in which Saqib Bhatti 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, 2023-24

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£155,289
Pooled staffing services	1	£3,188
Volunteer - agreed arrangement costs	6	£47

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	27	£10,200
Stationery & printing	29	£5,371
Advertising and contact cards	7	£3,451
Business rates	2	£3,393
Software & applications	3	£2,174
Venue hire, meetings & surgeries	9	£1,275

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	8	£22,175
Hotel - London	12	£4,630
Council tax	2	£1,985
Utilities	5	£707

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Mileage - car	4	£4,030
Rail	4	£3,697
Congestion charge & toll	1	£865
Hotel - UK Not London	1	£279
Other public transport	2	£151
Subsistence	2	£132

Largest claims, 2023-24

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 2024	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year	£155,289	£155,289
31 March 2024	MP Travel	Mileage - car	Aggregated figure for travel during 2023-24	£3,326	£3,326
23 March 2024	Accommodation	Rent	London accommodation	£3,300	£3,300
23 February 2024	Accommodation	Rent	London accommodation rent	£3,300	£3,300
23 January 2024	Accommodation	Rent	Rent - London accommodation	£3,300	£3,300
23 December 2023	Accommodation	Rent	Rent - London accommodation	£3,300	£3,300
23 November 2023	Accommodation	Rent	London accommodation rent	£3,300	£3,300
23 October 2023	Accommodation	Rent	London rental property	£3,300	£3,300
18 April 2023	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Policy Research Unit (Conservative)	£3,188	£3,188
31 March 2024	Staff Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2023-24	£3,094	£3,094
3 March 2023	Accommodation	Rent	London accommodation - April 2023	£2,231	£2,231
13 March 2024	Office Costs	Business rates	SOLIHULL METROPOLITAN [200010137-2139]	£1,697	£1,697
22 March 2023	Office Costs	Business rates	SOLIHULL METROPOLITAN	£1,697	£1,697
6 February 2024	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	Contact details for MP surgery and local office	£1,474	£1,474
25 March 2024	Accommodation	Council tax	Council tax London Property	£1,406	£1,406

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 Saqib Bhatti 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 · Saqib Bhatti’s register of interests and votes · Sources