MPs’ expenses bill soars by nearly a FIFTH in two years to £138.6m as they hire more staff citing ‘rise in casework’ after Covid

• MPs’ staff, office, accommodation, travel and subsistence was £138m last year
• Figure has risen by nearly a fifth over the past two years with workload blamed
• They are now able to employ more staff to deal with casework after Covid 

The MPs’ expenses bill has soared nearly a fifth in two years as they hire more staff for ‘rising casework’ after Covid.

The cost of staffing, running offices away from Parliament, accommodation, travel and subsistence came to £138.6million in 2021-22.

That was up from £132.4million the previous year, while the figure for 2019-20 was £117.4million and £118.4million in 2018-19.

The increase was revealed in the annual publication by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) watchdog.

Most of the rise was down to the 650 MPs being allowed to employ more people after complaining about a sharp rise in constituency workload.

Budgets have been hiked so they can take on four or five staff rather than three or four in the past.

The cost of staffing, running offices away from Parliament, accommodation, travel and subsistence came to £138.6million in 2021-22

The staffing costs were £111.2million last year, compared to £90.1million in 2019-20.

Office costs were £13.5million in 2021-22, and £12.9million two years previously.

Accommodation – such as hotels and rented flats in London or the constituency – came to £9.6million last year, while travel and subsistence was £4.3million.

Security measures away from Parliament were £4.4million, only slightly increased from 2020-21 after several years of dramatic rises.

Concern for MPs’ safety have been mounting after the deaths of Jo Cox and David Amess.

Ipsa chief executive Ian Todd said: ‘The data we have published today shows the essential costs incurred by MPs to carry out their parliamentary duties in the year ending March 2022. 

‘We know that it has been a challenging year for MPs and they have seen another rise in casework.’ 

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