MPs’ business costs

Alicia Kearns

IPSA paid £1,447,139 against 926 published rows for Alicia Kearns between 2019-20 and 2025-26 as the member for Rutland and Melton CC, then Rutland and Stamford CC. 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, 2020-21

147 claims, £234,760 paid. The headings are IPSA’s own categories grouped; the categories inside each are named on the register page.

Category	What it covers	Claims	Paid	Share
Staffing	The 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.	10	£179,618	76.5%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	98	£30,243	12.9%
Accommodation	The 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.	32	£23,230	9.9%
Travel	Journeys 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.	7	£1,669	0.7%

Every year in the register

Alicia Kearns’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2019-20 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.

Year	Claims	Staffing	Office costs	Accommodation	Travel	Total
2019-20	34	£46,811	£7,196	£5	£1,558	£55,570
2020-21	147	£179,618	£30,243	£23,230	£1,669	£234,760
2021-22	99	£185,409	£15,828	£32,900	£3,079	£237,215
2022-23	149	£201,250	£29,606	£34,539	£7,611	£273,006
2023-24	186	£227,409	£27,467	£37,800	£7,092	£299,768
2024-25	257	£230,056	£38,074	£39,718	£12,282	£320,130
2025-26	54	£1,170	£22,628	£2,892	—	£26,691

A year in which Alicia Kearns 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, 2020-21

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£166,254
Bought-in services	6	£12,380
Training - staff	2	£959
Health & welfare - staff	1	£25

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	5	£13,839
Pooled staffing services	1	£3,049
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs	4	£1,757
Newspapers, journals, magazines	10	£1,661
Working From Home Allowance	1	£1,587
Bought-in services	2	£1,580

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	1	£19,520
Moving Fees	2	£2,016
Council tax	1	£874
Utilities	14	£600
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	9	£167
Insurance - buildings	1	£53

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Mileage - car	4	£1,400
Rail	2	£254
Parking	1	£14

Largest claims, 2020-21

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.

Date	Category	Cost type	Description	Claimed	Paid
31 March 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£166,254	£166,254
31 March 2021	Accommodation	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2020-21	£19,520	£19,520
23 April 2020	Office Costs	Rent	Ongoing monthly rent claim for constituency office -YE	£7,997	£7,997
29 January 2021	Staffing	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£5,700	£5,700
11 June 2020	Staffing	Bought-in services	Administrative services	£3,500	£3,500
5 May 2020	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Policy Research Unit (Conservative)	£3,049	£3,049
8 July 2020	Office Costs	Rent	—	£2,666	£2,666
8 April 2020	Office Costs	Rent	—	£2,666	£2,666
10 September 2020	Accommodation	Moving Fees	Agency fees	£2,016	£2,016
18 May 2020	Staffing	Bought-in services	Administrative services	£2,000	£2,000
31 March 2021	Office Costs	Working From Home Allowance	Aggregated figure for 2020-21	£1,587	£1,587
8 April 2020	Office Costs	Newspapers, journals, magazines	ILIFFE MEDIA PUBLISHIN	£1,050	£1,050
6 August 2020	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	JPIM ADVERTISING	£1,020	£1,020
31 March 2021	MP Travel	Mileage - car	Aggregated figure for travel during 2020-21	£881	£881
11 December 2020	Accommodation	Council tax	Council Tax for [***]	£874	£874

Claims refused and money repaid, 2020-21

16 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £1,257 not paid and £4,184 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 Alicia Kearns 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 · Alicia Kearns’s register of interests and votes · Sources