MPs’ business costs

Valerie Vaz

IPSA paid £2,517,115 against 2,243 published rows for Valerie Vaz between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Walsall South BC, then Walsall and Bloxwich 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, 2025-26

50 claims, £16,802 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
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	43	£12,185	72.5%
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.	7	£4,617	27.5%

Every year in the register

Valerie Vaz’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	184	£73,797	£16,896	£9,818	£5,050	—	£105,562
2011-12	204	£113,787	£17,064	£9,378	£5,396	—	£145,625
2012-13	167	£129,250	£16,189	£9,652	£4,691	—	£159,782
2013-14	164	£122,356	£22,839	£8,690	£4,245	—	£158,131
2014-15	162	£110,553	£20,206	£9,928	£5,935	—	£146,623
2015-16	170	£111,635	£21,649	£7,139	£4,900	—	£145,323
2016-17	101	£113,386	£20,807	£8,973	£3,674	—	£146,840
2017-18	112	£134,163	£20,442	£9,043	£3,580	—	£167,228
2018-19	114	£136,837	£22,013	£9,291	£4,649	—	£172,790
2019-20	137	£149,736	£25,245	£11,636	£4,464	—	£191,081
2020-21	148	£145,719	£20,677	£9,279	£2,232	—	£177,907
2021-22	162	£149,059	£20,807	£11,386	£4,528	—	£185,780
2022-23	123	£154,681	£25,571	£12,146	£5,254	—	£197,652
2023-24	122	£142,873	£16,139	£17,842	£5,033	£263	£182,149
2024-25	123	£162,496	£31,615	£19,901	£3,660	£170	£217,841
2025-26	50	—	£12,185	£4,617	—	—	£16,802

A year in which Valerie Vaz 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, 2025-26

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

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Business rates	5	£3,067
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs	2	£2,181
Software & applications	13	£2,130
Stationery & printing	15	£1,913
Parking	2	£1,753
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	4	£607

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Council tax	1	£3,053
Utilities	6	£1,564

Largest claims, 2025-26

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
9 April 2025	Accommodation	Council tax	council tax	£3,053	£3,053
17 June 2025	Office Costs	Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs	Flooring	£1,410	£1,410
16 December 2025	Office Costs	Business rates	bill dated 11.12.25 room [***]	£1,297	£1,297
2 February 2026	Office Costs	Parking	—	£1,000	£1,000
4 June 2025	Office Costs	Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs	invoice dated 4.6.25	£771	£771
3 January 2025	Office Costs	Parking	[200012094-1]	£753	£753
9 February 2026	Office Costs	Business rates	Room [***] bill dated 22.1.26	£739	£739
19 May 2025	Office Costs	Software & applications	case work system annual charge	£738	£738
3 March 2026	Office Costs	Business rates	bill dated 15.1.26	£537	£537
16 December 2025	Office Costs	Business rates	bill dated 11.12.25 for room [***]	£494	£494
24 March 2026	Accommodation	Utilities	Dual Fuel	£394	£394
8 April 2025	Office Costs	Website hosting and design	website hosting and design	£360	£360
14 July 2025	Accommodation	Utilities	Dual Fuel	£326	£326
24 March 2026	Accommodation	Utilities	Dual Fuel	£304	£304
28 October 2025	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	Banner March 2026	£297	£297

Claims refused and money repaid, 2025-26

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £320 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 Valerie Vaz 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 · Valerie Vaz’s register of interests and votes · Sources