MPs’ business costs

Mr Toby Perkins

IPSA paid £3,033,164 against 2,424 published rows for Mr Toby Perkins between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Chesterfield 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, 2022-23

209 claims, £238,828 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	£185,238	77.6%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	139	£26,676	11.2%
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.	44	£15,805	6.6%
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.	25	£11,108	4.7%

Every year in the register

Mr Toby Perkins’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	Miscellaneous	Total
2010-11	99	£75,754	£16,243	£18,592	£5,149	—	£115,737
2011-12	97	£109,201	£15,591	£17,012	£8,795	£267	£150,865
2012-13	154	£125,960	£15,341	£19,962	£10,062	—	£171,325
2013-14	203	£123,607	£18,546	£21,374	£9,621	—	£173,149
2014-15	158	£136,985	£19,023	£20,752	£10,447	—	£187,206
2015-16	139	£131,083	£14,809	£22,974	£12,266	—	£181,131
2016-17	134	£122,444	£12,465	£24,478	£11,766	—	£171,153
2017-18	150	£142,258	£16,985	£24,613	£10,578	—	£194,433
2018-19	149	£148,393	£17,188	£24,333	£13,689	—	£203,603
2019-20	188	£155,900	£20,527	£17,831	£12,426	—	£206,683
2020-21	156	£165,874	£20,302	£23,046	£6,239	—	£215,460
2021-22	194	£175,579	£25,631	£17,674	£15,362	—	£234,247
2022-23	209	£185,238	£26,676	£15,805	£11,108	—	£238,828
2023-24	173	£200,133	£23,486	£25,290	£14,137	—	£263,046
2024-25	153	£229,541	£27,869	£31,140	£18,028	—	£306,578
2025-26	68	—	£16,689	£3,031	—	—	£19,720

A year in which Mr Toby Perkins 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 type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£185,238

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	4	£9,000
Utilities	14	£5,517
Stationery & printing	51	£4,826
Mobile telephone - contract & usage	12	£1,592
Cleaning services	5	£992
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs	13	£780

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Hotel - London	43	£15,620
Cleaning services	1	£185

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	4	£6,513
Hotel - UK Not London	2	£1,337
Mileage - car	5	£1,308
Parking	5	£596
Taxi	2	£294
Air travel	1	£263

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.

Date	Category	Cost type	Description	Claimed	Paid
31 March 2023	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year	£185,238	£185,238
31 March 2023	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£5,890	£5,890
4 April 2023	Office Costs	Rent	—	£2,250	£2,250
5 January 2023	Office Costs	Rent	—	£2,250	£2,250
4 October 2022	Office Costs	Rent	—	£2,250	£2,250
5 July 2022	Office Costs	Rent	—	£2,250	£2,250
31 March 2023	Staff Travel	Hotel - UK Not London	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£1,230	£1,230
17 February 2023	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	Printer ink for constituency office	£1,148	£1,148
31 March 2023	MP Travel	Mileage - car	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£825	£825
24 June 2022	Office Costs	Utilities	Electricity	£734	£734
30 November 2022	Accommodation	Hotel - London	[*][][**]	£700	£700
9 September 2022	Accommodation	Hotel - London	[*][][**]	£700	£700
2 September 2022	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	Ink for constituency office printer	£660	£660
12 December 2022	Office Costs	Utilities	Electricity	£628	£628
10 October 2022	Office Costs	Utilities	Electricity	£619	£619

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 Mr Toby Perkins 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 · Mr Toby Perkins’s register of interests and votes · Sources