MPs’ business costs

Seema Malhotra

IPSA paid £2,709,790 against 2,124 published rows for Seema Malhotra between 2011-12 and 2025-26 as the member for Feltham and Heston BC. 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

155 claims, £256,343 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.42£222,97687.0%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.107£32,73912.8%
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£6290.2%

Every year in the register

Seema Malhotra’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2011-12 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 costsTravelStarting up and winding upMiscellaneousTotal
2011-124£16,673£615£17,288
2012-13237£109,370£17,596£145£1,556£128,666
2013-14169£142,281£18,023£298£160,602
2014-15113£145,426£25,821£689£503£172,439
2015-16170£144,795£25,236£170,031
2016-17140£146,863£25,462£350£172,675
2017-18135£161,114£26,475£241£187,829
2018-19202£159,199£18,889£974£1,069£180,131
2019-20158£170,466£24,094£536£195,097
2020-2197£203,154£29,049£232,203
2021-22105£218,187£37,794£339£2,993£259,314
2022-23178£231,556£26,018£5,705£1,440£264,720
2023-24187£259,214£34,935£3,294£297,443
2024-25155£222,976£32,739£629£256,343
2025-2674£4,119£10,889£15,009

A year in which Seema Malhotra 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£218,160
Training - staff8£2,713
Bought-in services3£1,710
Volunteer - agreed arrangement costs30£393

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent1£9,792
Bought-in services7£7,448
Pooled staffing services1£4,600
Training - staff4£2,863
Stationery & printing32£2,019
Utilities25£1,840

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail3£374
Hotel - European1£165
Hotel - London1£72
Subsistence1£18

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£218,160£218,160
31 March 2025Office CostsRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£9,792£9,792
12 April 2024Office CostsPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£4,600£4,600
31 January 2025Office CostsBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£3,240£3,240
17 February 2025Office CostsTraining - staffILX GROUP PLC [200011726-507]£1,525£1,525
6 January 2025Office CostsBought-in servicesComms & Media£1,368£1,368
27 November 2024Office CostsMoving FeesLegal costs£750£750
15 May 2024Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES£720£720
26 March 2025Office CostsBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£650£650
3 February 2025Office CostsBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£650£650
14 January 2025Office CostsBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£650£650
2 December 2024Office CostsBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£650£650
2 May 2024StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£650£650
2 April 2024StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£650£650
25 March 2024StaffingTraining - staff1 hour prep 1 hour coaching for staff member£504£504

Claims refused and money repaid, 2024-25

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £100 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 Seema Malhotra 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 · Seema Malhotra’s register of interests and votes · Sources