MPs’ business costs

Afzal Khan

IPSA paid £1,774,108 against 1,431 published rows for Afzal Khan between 2017-18 and 2025-26 as the member for Manchester, Gorton BC, then Manchester Rusholme BC. These are the costs of running an office and employing staff under IPSA’s rules. They are not salary, and the largest part of them is wages IPSA pays to the member’s employees rather than money the member receives.

By category, 2017-18 to 2025-26

1,431 claims, £1,774,108 paid. The headings are IPSA’s own categories grouped; the categories inside each are named on the register page.

CategoryWhat it coversClaimsPaidShare
StaffingThe salaries and employment costs of the people an MP employs to run their office and casework. IPSA pays these directly; they are not money an MP receives.75£1,367,97677.1%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.1,060£170,5509.6%
AccommodationThe cost of somewhere to stay for an MP whose constituency is far enough from Westminster that IPSA's rules allow it. An MP representing a London seat is not eligible on the same terms.230£183,00310.3%
TravelJourneys between the constituency and Westminster and within the constituency. Until 2018-19 IPSA published one travel category; from 2019-20 it publishes travel by the MP, by staff and by a dependant separately.66£52,5793.0%

Every year in the register

Afzal Khan’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2017-18 and the last is 2025-26. Figures are not adjusted for inflation, so a rise between two distant years is partly a rise in prices. Select a year to read it on its own.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelTotal
2017-1897£107,770£17,558£17,934£6,920£150,182
2018-19156£149,283£23,360£22,174£6,170£200,987
2019-20156£156,049£21,930£22,698£4,250£204,927
2020-21166£182,851£22,585£21,073£431£226,941
2021-22190£203,314£22,382£23,007£4,589£253,292
2022-23207£184,569£18,704£23,588£11,319£238,179
2023-24224£189,418£18,694£24,501£10,349£242,961
2024-25191£194,493£18,909£25,792£8,552£247,745
2025-2644£230£6,428£2,237£8,896

A year in which Afzal Khan joined or left the House part-way through is a part year, and is not comparable with a full one.

What each category is made of, 2017-18 to 2025-26

The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll8£1,341,994
Pooled staffing services6£21,100
Volunteer - agreed arrangement costs50£1,897
Bought-in services4£1,258
Training - staff2£640
Health & welfare - staff1£636

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent21£64,300
Const Office Rent10£16,839
Stationery & printing145£10,723
Equipment - purchase50£8,693
Software & applications312£8,578
Professional Services: Direct2£8,400

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent52£127,305
Accommodation Rent23£34,766
Council tax21£10,798
Utilities81£4,236
Council Tax4£3,091
Hotel London Area3£855

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail19£25,560
Aggregated Travel Costs2£13,090
Hotel - London6£7,883
Hotel - UK Not London4£2,169
Other public transport14£1,551
Air travel1£725

Largest claims, 2017-18 to 2025-26

The 15 rows IPSA paid most against, with IPSA’s own description of each. Read the description before the amount: IPSA publishes most of a member’s staffing as one row for the whole year — “Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the ⟨year⟩ year” — so the largest row here is usually a year of wages for the member’s employees and not something bought.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
31 March 2022StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year£198,894£198,894
31 March 2025StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year£187,548£187,548
31 March 2024StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year£183,917£183,917
31 March 2021StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year£182,215£182,215
31 March 2023StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year£180,369£180,369
31 March 2020StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year£152,449£152,449
31 March 2019StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year£148,832£148,832
31 March 2018StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year£107,770£107,770
31 March 2025AccommodationRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£23,121£23,121
31 March 2022AccommodationRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22£20,760£20,760
31 March 2025Office CostsRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£8,950£8,950
31 March 2018TravelAggregated Travel CostsAggregated figure for travel during 2017-18£6,920£6,920
31 March 2019TravelAggregated Travel CostsAggregated figure for travel during 2018-19£6,170£6,170
31 March 2025MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£5,473£5,473
1 April 2018Office CostsProfessional Services: DirectPRS£4,800£4,800

Claims refused and money repaid, 2017-18 to 2025-26

7 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £82 not paid and £1,174 repaid. A refusal is not a finding of wrongdoing — most are claims outside the scheme’s rules, or submitted without the evidence IPSA requires — and it is shown because leaving it out would show only the money that went out.

What this page does not show

Whether any of it was justified. IPSA accepted these claims under its own rules and the register records what was paid, not whether it should have been. A large total is not a finding about the member.

Nor how Afzal Khan compares with another member. After staffing the largest headings are accommodation and travel, and both are decided mostly by where a constituency is: a member several hundred miles from Westminster is eligible for costs a member with a London seat is not. Two members’ totals are two sets of rules as much as two sets of choices, and the length of service differs too.

It is also not pay. IPSA sets and publishes MPs’ salaries separately and they are not in this register; the staffing figure here is the salaries of the member’s employees.

All MPs’ business costs · Afzal Khan’s register of interests and votes · Sources