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Official portrait of Helen Whately

Helen Whately

Conservative MP for Faversham and Mid Kent, since 7 May 2015

Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Helen Whately is the Conservative MP for Faversham and Mid Kent, and has been an MP continually since 7 May 2015. She currently undertakes the role of Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

Contact them on the parliamentary site →

Scorecard

69.7% Attendance Below the median of MPs who vote
401 Votes cast out of 575 divisions
174 No vote recorded absent, abstaining, paired or unable to attend
1 Against their own party divisions where they voted the other way to most Conservative MPs
8 Interests declared 6 at £5,000 or more
588 Debates spoken in 537 written questions tabled

Ranked 371 of 638 MPs for attendance. The median of MPs who vote is 72.3%. Ministers and front-benchers vote less often than backbenchers for reasons of office rather than absenteeism, and Parliament does not publish reasons for any absence — the ranking is a starting point for a question, not an answer to one.

Voting record

575 divisions since they took their seat, newest first.

DateQuestionTheir voteResult
18 Mar 2026 Draft Employment Rights Act 2025 (Investigatory Powers) (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2026 deferred division No 368–107
11 Mar 2026 Finance (No. 2) Bill: Third Reading No vote 292–161
11 Mar 2026 Finance (No. 2) Bill Report Stage: Amendment 6 No vote 175–292
11 Mar 2026 Finance (No. 2) Bill Report Stage: Amendment 5 No vote 172–283
11 Mar 2026 Finance (No. 2) Bill Report Stage: New Clause 11 No vote 174–292
10 Mar 2026 Courts and Tribunals Bill: Second Reading No 304–203
10 Mar 2026 Courts and Tribunals Bill: Reasoned Amendment to Second Reading Aye 203–311
9 Mar 2026 Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 106 No 304–177
9 Mar 2026 Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 102 No 315–163
9 Mar 2026 Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 44 No 315–109
9 Mar 2026 Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 41 No 316–171
9 Mar 2026 Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 38 No 307–173
9 Mar 2026 Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 37 No vote 321–106
9 Mar 2026 Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 17 No 306–182
9 Mar 2026 Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 16 No 309–181
2 Mar 2026 Representation of the People Bill: Reasoned Amendment to Second Reading Aye 105–410
24 Feb 2026 Opposition Day: Protections for children from online harms No vote 69–279
23 Feb 2026 Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill: Third Reading No 361–84
23 Feb 2026 Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill Committee: New Clause 3 No vote 73–256
23 Feb 2026 Industry and Exports (Financial Assistance) Bill Committee: New Clause 3 No vote 77–280
23 Feb 2026 Industry and Exports (Financial Assistance) Bill Committee: New Clause 2 Aye 156–273
23 Feb 2026 Industry and Exports (Financial Assistance) Bill Committee: Amendment 1 Aye 161–272
11 Feb 2026 Referendums Relating to Council Tax Increases (Principles) (England) Report 2026-27 No 279–90
11 Feb 2026 Local Government Finance Report (England) 2026-27 No 277–143
11 Feb 2026 Draft Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme (Amendment) (Extension to Maritime Activities) Order 2026 deferred division No 362–107

Declared financial interests

Quoted in full from the Register of Members' Financial Interests. Entries where the largest figure is £5,000 or more are marked. A declaration is not a wrongdoing — the register exists precisely so that these things are visible.

2. (a) Support linked to an MP but received by a local party organisation or indirectly via a central party organisation

Name of donor: Benjamin Tansey
Address of donor: private
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: £3,000 financial support towards the cost of salary for a researcher to assist the work of the Shadow Secretary of State.
Donor status: individual
(Registered 30 June 2026)

On the register since 14 Jul 2026

£7,500

Name of donor: Richard Oldfield
Address of donor: private
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: £7,500 financial support towards the cost of salary for a member of staff to assist the work of the Shadow Secretary of State.
Donor status: individual
(Registered 25 March 2026)

On the register since 14 Apr 2026

£5,000

Name of donor: Lord Michael Farmer
Address of donor: private
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: £5,000 financial support towards the cost of salary for a member of staff to assist the work of the Shadow Secretary of State.
Donor status: individual
(Registered 25 March 2026)

On the register since 14 Apr 2026

£7,500

Name of donor: Richard Oldfield
Address of donor: private
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: £7,500 financial support towards the cost of salary for a member of staff to assist the work of the Shadow Secretary of State.
Donor status: individual
(Registered 5 January 2026)

On the register since 25 Mar 2026

£10,000

Name of donor: Edward Sells
Address of donor: private
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: £10,000 financial support towards the cost of salary for a member of staff to assist my work as a Shadow Secretary of State.
Donor status: individual
(Registered 24 February 2026)

On the register since 10 Mar 2026

£5,000

Name of donor: Edward Garton Woods
Address of donor: private
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: £5,000 financial support towards the cost of salary for a member of staff to assist my work as a Shadow Secretary of State.
Donor status: individual
(Registered 21 January 2026)

On the register since 3 Feb 2026

£5,000

Name of donor: Lord (Stanley) Fink
Address of donor: private
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: £5,000 financial support towards the cost of salary for a member of staff to assist the work of the Shadow Secretary of State.
Donor status: individual
(Registered 14 January 2026)

On the register since 20 Jan 2026

8. Miscellaneous

My husband, Marcus Whately, is Chief Executive of GrowUp Farms, a salad producer.
(Registered 17 September 2024)

On the register since 2 Oct 2024

The same register on parliament.uk →

Debates

588 debates contributed to in total. The ten most recent:

Sources: Commons Votes API, Members API and the Register of Members' Financial Interests, all published by Parliament under the Open Parliament Licence. This member's register and debate record were last refreshed 3 Aug 2026. How every figure is worked out →

Machine-readable: JSON for this MP.

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