MPs’ business costs

Vicky Foxcroft

IPSA paid £2,016,005 against 1,026 published rows for Vicky Foxcroft between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Lewisham, Deptford BC, then Lewisham North 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, 2023-24

95 claims, £240,767 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.1£220,21291.5%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.94£20,5558.5%

Every year in the register

Vicky Foxcroft’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2015-16 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 upTotal
2015-1693£114,104£14,729£4,683£133,516
2016-1786£134,642£20,254£809£155,705
2017-1896£150,042£18,483£168,525
2018-1995£156,077£19,215£351£175,643
2019-20110£153,900£20,488£-156£174,231
2020-2199£196,496£21,153£217,649
2021-2295£206,412£25,952£232,364
2022-2394£206,834£18,031£143£225,008
2023-2495£220,212£20,555£240,767
2024-25112£251,688£27,778£685£280,151
2025-2651£12,445£12,445

A year in which Vicky Foxcroft 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 typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£220,212

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent12£6,000
Pooled staffing services1£4,500
Utilities10£3,072
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage11£1,446
Software & applications6£1,198
Equipment - purchase7£1,129

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.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
31 March 2024StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year£220,212£220,212
19 April 2023Office CostsPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£4,500£4,500
9 February 2024Office CostsEquipment - purchaseComputer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories£938£938
24 March 2023Office CostsUtilitiesElectricity£856£856
26 June 2023Office CostsUtilitiesElectricity£741£741
18 May 2023Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES£690£690
26 September 2023Office CostsUtilitiesElectricity£656£656
3 January 2024Office CostsUtilitiesElectricity£653£653
2 April 2024Office CostsRent£500£500
5 March 2024Office CostsRent£500£500
1 February 2024Office CostsRent£500£500
5 January 2024Office CostsRent£500£500
5 December 2023Office CostsRent£500£500
1 November 2023Office CostsRent£500£500
3 October 2023Office CostsRent£500£500

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 Vicky Foxcroft 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 · Vicky Foxcroft’s register of interests and votes · Sources