How much does your MP cost you?

I have published details of the Parliamentary allowances I have claimed on this website for the past couple of years well before the recent furore over MPs expenses. I hope the information below is helpful and as always, I am happy to respond to any more detailed questions.In the light of recent revelations, I issued the following response.

“The public is understandably outraged about the recent revelations about the way the MPs expenses system works or clearly doesn't work. The system has been brought into disrepute by the excesses of a few, not helped by the broad and lax criteria under which allowances are granted and the fact that uniquely the job of an MP requires us to operate from three different work places - Westminster, the constituency office and our homes. It is vital that the system is now urgently reformed to start to restore confidence in the whole political process and in the important jobs that our constituents sent us to Parliament to do.

Every MP's circumstances is different and each should be accountable. For my part I have always supported any moves to make the workings of MPs more transparent and accountable which is why I have published fuller details of my expenses on my website voluntarily for some years well before the recent row blew up, and have always been happy to answer any questions from my constituents, though few have raised it. Since becoming an MP in 1997 I have maintained the same two properties - a house in West Sussex just outside my constituency and a flat in Westminster in walking distance from the House of Commons where I usually stay during the week. Both these properties were purchased without any public funds. No refurbishments have been claimed for, no gains have been realised. As anyone can see from my website my normal working week averages over 70 hours when Parliament is sitting. That includes several days a week when I am in my Commons office by 7.30 in the morning and not leaving until after 11pm which makes commuting wholly impractical.

My time is therefore split between Westminster and Sussex and I have chosen to claim the Additional Costs Allowance on my Sussex home, though I have significant mortgages on both properties. As the leaked receipts show I have claimed for running costs on that one property which include mortgage interest, utility bills, council tax and insurance. I have never charged any capital goods, gardening, cleaning, mock beam installation or moat clearance or the like! I am more than happy to justify any of these expenses to my constituents which fully comply with the rules and which more importantly comply with the spirit of Parliamentary expenses being necessary to enable me to get on with my job in more than one place of work, working unsociable hours and being accountable to my constituents.’  (May 12th 2009)

Tim has always endeavoured to make the workings and cost of his office as transparent as possible. That is why for several years he has made more detailed declarations about his allowances in a user friendly way on this website and in his Annual Report. In addition in 2008 Conservative MPs published further details of their allowances on the Conservative Party website. He is always happy to respond to further questions on this in the interests of Parliamentary transparency and accountability to his constituents, and hopes that it will help people see exactly what taxpayers are paying MPs to do and not instantly swallow the mischief making of the tabloid headlines.

A breakdown of Tim's expenses from 2008 is available from the Conservative Party's website under our 'Right to Know' scheme. Click here.

A summary of Tim's income and expenses from 2007/08 is given below.

In total Tim claimed £145,974 in 2007/08, an increase of 4% on the figure of £140,352 in 2006/07, to carry out his duties as an MP and run his office which typically deals with over 100 letters and a similar number of emails and telephone calls every working day. Comparisons to other MPs in the table below show that Tim was 337^th most expensive out of 645 MPs (i.e. cost less than most) despite the fact that he has additional responsibilities and costs as the Shadow Minister for Children and Young people.

Salary

Like most MPs Tim received a basic salary of £61,181 (increased to £61,820 in November 2007) in 2007/2008 which represented a weighted increase of 1.94% on the previous year. In the current year the basic salary has been increased by 2.38% to £63,291. Tim does not qualify for any other Parliamentary salary payments.

For information the salary of an MP has risen by an average of 3.4% pa since Tim first became an MP in 1997, as follows:

1 April 1997          £43,860

1 April 1998         £45,066

1 April 1999         £47,008

1 April 2000         £48,371

1 April 2001         £49,822

20 June 2001       £51,822

1 April 2002         £55,118

1 April 2003         £56,358

1 April 2004         £57,485

1 April 2005         £59,095

1 April 2006         £59,686

1 Nov 2006           £60,277

1 Apr 2007            £61,181

1 Nov 2007           £61,820

1 Apr 2008           £63,291

                                                           1 April 2009          £64,766

Despite being a Shadow Minister on the Conservative Front Bench Tim receives no additional salary. The only MPs who receive more than the basic MPs salary are Government ministers, the Leader of the Opposition, senior opposition whips and chairmen of Parliamentary Committees. There are no differential payments for MPs representing parts of the country with a higher cost of living like the South East. There are also no additional employment benefits like private health insurance, gym membership etc.

All MPs qualify for a final salary pension scheme though over the last five years the individual contribution payable by members has almost doubled from 6% to around 11% of salary.

Additional costs allowance

In recognition of the fact that MPs have to live in two places at once to attend Parliament in Westminster during the week and to attend to duties in their constituencies, MPs could claim up to £23,083 in 2007/08 for the cost of a second property. This can be used for rent/mortgage interest, utility bills, security bills etc.

The majority of the allowance goes on mortgage interest payments followed by energy and utility bills, security, insurance and general repairs/maintenance. Tim has not used this allowance for buying any capital items for his home (the ‘infamous’ John Lewis list of kitchens, TVs etc!) The House of Commons Fees Office closely monitors these and all other claims, for which there are strict rules and Tim produces receipts.

Incidental Expenses Provision and Staffing Allowance

Tim maintains an office at the House of Commons and in the constituency at Haverfield House in Worthing. To cover the costs of running these offices MPs qualify for an annual staffing allowance of £90,505 and incidental expenses provision allowance of £21,339 in 2007/08. Parts of these allowances are interchangeable which is why the official figures can appear to be outside these limits.

Taken together in 2007/08 Tim spent a total of £110,031 to run his offices. None of this money actually goes to Tim directly and he has never had any family members working for him and receiving any benefit.

Of this total over 84% goes on staff salaries, including basic pay and national insurance costs. Tim employs:

- A full time personal assistant at Westminster called Louise Bradley, mostly dealing with constituency correspondence and diary engagements

- A full time researcher at Westminster called Alex Burghart, helping Tim with his House of Commons work and front bench duties.

- A part time researcher at Westminster called Justine Kent, helping with his role as Shadow Minister for Children

- A part time secretary called Fiona Chadwick, working from home mostly handling surgery case work.

- A contribution to the secretarial support in the Worthing office dealing directly with constituents. This is included in the monthly payment Tim makes to Haverfield House of £640 towards the cost of renting an office there, staffing and provision of other office services. This amount is decided by agreement with the Fees Office and is substantially cheaper than the cost of maintaining a separate staffed office in the constituency.

 

Without going into every detail of the cost of every paper clip, the major additional items of expenditure for last year were:

* Producing Annual Report (£1,759 and delivered free by volunteers)

* Cost of computer support contract

* Room hire for surgeries and public meetings

* Subscription to Parliamentary Resources Unit for research support for constituent     correspondence etc (£3,877)

* New computer printer

* Cost of pager and Parliamentary mobile phone

* General stationery and office supplies

As from April 2007 MPs have an additional £10,000 communications allowance for the cost of literature sent to constituents. Tim, along with other Conservative MPs voted against this allowance as he believes that current budgets should be sufficient. In future costs for the Annual Report for example will automatically be debited to the Communication Allowance but Tim will seek to reduce the cost of his IEP accordingly.

Travel

MPs can claim the cost of travel to and from Parliament and also to and from and within their constituencies. In addition front benchers can claim the cost of travel to projects around the country relevant to their brief (in Tim's case children and young people). MPs can also claim expenses of travel to other EU capitals on Parliamentary business. Tim has only claimed for European trips on 2 occasions in his 11 years in Parliament.

In total Tim claimed £8,313 on travel in 2007/08 which was a reduction on the £10,034 in 2006/07. Tim usually travels to Westminster by train so this is made up of train travel and car mileage remunerated at the standard Inland Revenue rate of 40p per mile.

Miscellaneous

The MPs expenses also include a figure of £1,148 for centrally provided computer equipment by the House of Commons IT department and a total of £1084 for House of Commons stationery and postage 

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