MPs are entitled to claim a variety of expenses to help meet the costs of living and travelling from Westminster to their constituency, and to pay for staff and general office expenses.
The House of Commons authorities have now published full details every MPs expense claims since 2004. You can read Helen’s full expense claims by clicking here
Below you can a summary of the total allowance claims Helen submitted during 2007/08 (i.e. the last financial year for which records are available) and 2006/07
You can also read more about the allowances MPs can claim by clicking here.
| Expense Type | Total Claimed 07/08 | Allowance Limit 07/08 |
| Cost of staying away from home (ACA) | 23,083 | 23,083 |
| Staffing costs | 73,721 | 90,505 |
| Office running costs (IEP) | 11,902 | 21,339 |
| Communications Allowance | 10,685 | 10,000* |
| Stationary | 3,959 | 7,000 |
| IT Provision | 970 | N/A |
| Travel costs: | 19,038 |
| (of which) Rail travel: | 17,295 |
| Car Mileage: | 1,410 |
| Misc. | 333 |
| Air travel | 0 |
Table 2 below shows how Helen’s allowance claims changed from 06/07 to 07/08:
| Expense Type | Total Claimed 07/08 | Total claimed 06/07 | Difference 07/08 to 06/07 |
| Cost of staying away from home (ACA) | 23,083 | 22,100 | 983 |
| Staffing costs | 73,721 | 90,739 | -17,018 |
| Office running costs (IEP) | 11,902 | 20,440 | -8,538 |
| Stationary | 3,959 | 5,183 | -1,224 |
| IT Provision | 970 | 930 | 40 |
| Travel costs: | 19,038 | 11,809 | 7,229 |
| (of which) Rail travel: | 17,295 | 9,991 | 7,304 |
| Car Mileage: | 1,410 | 1,634 | -224 |
| Misc | 333 | N/A | N/A |
| Air Travel | 0 | 184 | -184 |
Explanatory Notes:
ACA: Sum paid to reimburse Members for necessary costs incurred when staying away from their main home for the purpose of performing parliamentary duties.
IEP: Money provided to cover expenses MPs incur while performing parliamentary duties, such as accommodation costs, room hire, equipment hire etc
Staffing allowance: To cover costs of hiring staff in the constituency and Westminster offices
Communications Allowance: Allowance to enable MPs to communicate effectively with constituents in the form of leaflets, websites and direct mailings.
