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, 2024-25

111 claims, £266,569 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.9£196,15673.6%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.74£19,1087.2%
AccommodationThe 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.12£41,38715.5%
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.16£9,9183.7%

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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelTotal
2019-2068£19,342£3,592£8,623£2,747£34,304
2020-2183£141,874£18,322£23,278£3,683£187,158
2021-2263£153,310£27,905£27,545£5,665£214,425
2022-23118£168,489£17,915£24,060£10,711£221,174
2023-24154£158,524£29,477£29,497£9,219£226,718
2024-25111£196,156£19,108£41,387£9,918£266,569
2025-2667£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, 2024-25

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£189,844
Pooled staffing services2£5,263
Training - staff2£1,005
Volunteer - agreed arrangement costs4£44

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent1£9,600
Stationery & printing31£4,029
Software & applications14£1,440
Advertising and contact cards1£1,368
Recruitment Services &Costs1£1,326
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage13£936

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent1£39,027
Utilities11£2,360

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Mileage - car4£5,097
Rail4£4,044
Congestion charge & toll2£508
Other public transport2£151
Parking2£86
Subsistence2£32

Largest claims, 2024-25

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 2025StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year£189,844£189,844
31 March 2025AccommodationRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£39,027£39,027
31 March 2025Office CostsRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£9,600£9,600
22 April 2024StaffingPooled staffing servicesPolicy Research Unit (Conservative)£3,548£3,548
31 March 2025MP TravelMileage - carAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£3,276£3,276
31 March 2025Staff TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£3,095£3,095
16 August 2024StaffingPooled staffing servicesPolicy Research Unit (Conservative)£1,715£1,715
31 October 2024Office CostsAdvertising and contact cardsMS MAGS LIMITED£1,368£1,368
19 April 2024Office CostsRecruitment Services &CostsHIVE SUPPORT LTD£1,326£1,326
31 March 2025Staff TravelMileage - carAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£1,109£1,109
31 March 2025MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£758£758
28 March 2025Office CostsStationery & printingWWW.AMAZON. [***] [200011726-8399]£738£738
13 September 2024AccommodationUtilitiesElectricity£726£726
20 December 2024Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES£720£720
26 April 2024StaffingTraining - staffPARLI-TRAINING£630£630

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

Saqib Bhatti: business costs paid by IPSA, 2019-20 to 2025-26 | Civometry