As a Members of Parliament my pay, staffing costs and office costs are publicly funded.
As you may be aware, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) – which is an independent body separate from MPs – regulate and administer all MPs pay, staffing costs and office costs. You can read IPSA’s rules on how the funding can be used here: https://www.theipsa.org.uk/publications/the-scheme and every three months they publish the details of all MPs pay, staffing costs and office costs here: https://www.theipsa.org.uk/mp-staffing-business-costs.
In addition to this, to be as open and transparent as possible, I also provide a breakdown of my pay, staffing costs and office costs below.
MPs pay
All MPs are paid a fixed annual salary which is set, regulated and administered by IPSA.
Since 1 April 2022, the basic annual salary of all MPs is £84,144.
As your MP, I don’t have any other paid jobs or receive a second income.
You can see full details about my pay here: https://www.theipsa.org.uk/mp-staffing-business-costs/your-mp/daisy-cooper/4769
Staffing & Office costs
All MPs receive public funding to employ staff and run their offices. These costs are split across a few different budgets all of which are set, regulated and administered by IPSA.
Staffing Budget
The staffing budget is largely made up of payroll costs, which are paid directly to the people I employ to help me carry out my work in Westminster and here in St Albans. The budget covers all payroll costs (staff salaries, employers’ national insurance contributions and pension contributions) as well as staff training costs.
I use my staffing budget to employ four people in St Albans (three full time and one part-time), two people in Westminster (both full time) and pay for pooled staffing services provided by the Parliamentary Support Team (Liberal Democrats) to support my work in the House of Commons.
For the 2021-22 financial year IPSA provided MPs with additional funding to help us support constituents impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. I used this funding to employ one additional person full time in St Albans.
You can see full details about my staffing budget here: https://www.theipsa.org.uk/mp-staffing-business-costs/your-mp/daisy-cooper/4769
Office Costs Budget
The office costs budget is largely made up of office rental costs which are paid directly to the landlord of my St Albans office. This budget covers all office rental costs (ground rent, services, business rates, insurance and telephone/internet bills).
I use my office costs budget to rent an office in St Albans and to provide the equipment and stationery my staff need to do their jobs.
You can see full details about my office costs budget here: https://www.theipsa.org.uk/mp-staffing-business-costs/your-mp/daisy-cooper/4769
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In addition to the funding I receive from IPSA, I sometimes receive donations from organisations or individuals to support my party political work. These donations are made to St Albans Liberal Democrats, who declare all reportable donations to the Electoral Commission.
In addition, in accordance with the requirements of the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, any donations that might reasonably be considered to influence my actions or words as a Member of Parliament are always declared in full and published here: https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/standards-and-financial-interests/parliamentary-commissioner-for-standards/registers-of-interests/register-of-members-financial-interests/.