How much does your MP cost you?
Information on MPs allowances is published annually and the latest figures were released on October 24th. As usual a lot of tabloid newspaper headlines poured scorn on 'MPs gravy trains' and the like regardless of the fact that the figures largely refer to the expenses of running an MPs office and do not benefit individual MPs personally.
Tim has included details about the running costs of his office in his Annual Report and on his website for the last few years. As always he is happy to provide the following information 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.
In total Tim claimed £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. Out of 646 MPs this amount ranked him 277 most 'expensive' - just above average, despite the fact that he has additional responsibilities and costs as the Shadow Minister for Children and the enormous extra workload relating to the Keep Worthing And Southlands Hospitals (KWASH) campaign.
Salary
Like most MPs Tim received a basic salary of £60,277 in 2006/2007 which represented an increase of 0.75% on the previous year. In the current year the basic salary has been increased by 0.66% to £60,675,
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 doubled from 6% to 12% 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 can claim up to £22,110 for the cost of a second property. This can be used for rent/mortgage interest, utility bills, security bills etc. Tim usually travels up from his home in Sussex on a Monday and stays in a Westminster flat for several nights during the week and therefore claims the full allowance. 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 £87,276 and incidental expenses provision allowance of £20,440. Parts of these allowances are interchangeable which is why the official figures appear to be outside these limits.
Taken together in 2006/07 Tim spent a total of £105,732 to run his offices. None of this money actually goes to Tim directly and he does not have any family members working for him and receiving any benefit.
Of this total over 80% goes on staff salaries, including basic pay and national insurance costs. Tim employs:
- A full time personal assistant at Westminster called Kathryn Griffith, 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.
- Additionally Tim has taken on an additional member of staff jointly with Peter Bottomley to help run the Keep Worthing And Southlands Hospitals (KWASH) campaign which has been responsible for a considerable extra workload during 2006/2007.
The increase in this element of Tim's expenses last year is mostly accounted for by the additional staff member dealing with KWASH. 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
* Cost of computer support contract
* New fax machine
* Room hire for surgeries and public meetings
* Subscription to Parliamentary Resources Unit for research support for constituent correspondence etc
* 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 health and children). 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 10 years in Parliament and in September 2006 included a trip to Helsinki and Copenhagen with other MPs to see childrens' projects and meet relevant MPs and officials there.
In total Tim claimed £10,034 on travel in 2006/07 which ranked him 212 out of 646 MPs overall. 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 £1006 for centrally provided computer equipment by the House of Commons IT department and a total of £1393 for stationery and postage. In addition just £77 was claimed for the cost of travel to the constituency by Tim's House of Commons staff.
