MPs’ business costs

Barry Gardiner

IPSA paid £2,930,322 against 1,192 published rows for Barry Gardiner between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Brent North BC, then Brent West 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, 2010-11

63 claims, £130,722 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.	1	£118,174	90.4%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	61	£9,786	7.5%
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.	1	£2,762	2.1%

Every year in the register

Barry Gardiner’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2010-11 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	Travel	Miscellaneous	Total
2010-11	63	£118,174	£9,786	£2,762	—	£130,722
2011-12	88	£151,013	£23,271	£2,732	—	£177,016
2012-13	108	£150,102	£21,206	£2,897	—	£174,204
2013-14	135	£151,435	£23,253	£2,515	—	£177,202
2014-15	54	£151,659	£17,865	£1,159	—	£170,683
2015-16	52	£144,920	£24,372	£1,020	—	£170,312
2016-17	86	£140,936	£23,101	£1,610	£492	£166,138
2017-18	72	£151,885	£21,958	£935	—	£174,779
2018-19	44	£162,850	£15,455	—	—	£178,305
2019-20	66	£158,409	£17,307	—	—	£175,715
2020-21	40	£200,492	£17,044	£477	—	£218,013
2021-22	111	£211,511	£14,754	£432	£24,914	£251,611
2022-23	88	£218,503	£15,078	£143	—	£233,724
2023-24	83	£224,662	£16,202	—	—	£240,863
2024-25	69	£261,099	£8,637	—	—	£269,737
2025-26	33	—	£21,298	—	—	£21,298

A year in which Barry Gardiner 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, 2010-11

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£118,174

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Stationery Purchase	33	£3,340
Payment Telephone/Mobile	9	£1,555
Other	8	£1,108
Computer HW Purchase	1	£1,038
Training MP Staff	3	£774
Const Office Hire of Premises	3	£736

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£2,762

Largest claims, 2010-11

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 2011	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2010-11 year	£118,174	£118,174
31 March 2011	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2010-11	£2,762	£2,762
30 August 2010	Office Costs	Computer HW Purchase	GA: Aug 2010 computer	£1,038	£1,038
31 March 2011	Office Costs	Scanner Purchase	GAE 2011 03 Scanner	£510	£510
11 December 2010	Office Costs	Payment Telephone/Mobile	GA: November 2010 Mobile bill	£491	£491
11 November 2010	Office Costs	Stationery Purchase	GA: Sept 2010 stationary	£477	£477
17 December 2010	Office Costs	Stationery Purchase	2010 December Stationary	£475	£475
31 March 2011	Office Costs	Other	GAE 2011 03 Toner (2 black)	£426	£426
6 January 2011	Office Costs	Training MP Staff	GA: staff training	£398	£398
8 September 2010	Office Costs	Computer SW Purchase	2010. 09 CFL Caseworker fee	£335	£335
23 September 2010	Office Costs	Const Office Hire of Premises	GA: Sept 2010 surgery hire	£330	£325
6 January 2011	Office Costs	Stationery Purchase	GA: 2011 January stationary	£280	£280
23 September 2010	Office Costs	Const Office Hire of Premises	GA: Sept 2010 surgery hire	£275	£275
10 June 2010	Office Costs	Payment Telephone/Mobile	GA: June 2010 mobile and envs	£250	£250
21 January 2011	Office Costs	Training MP Staff	Staff Training January 2011	£231	£231

Claims refused and money repaid, 2010-11

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £5 not paid and £0 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 Barry Gardiner 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 · Barry Gardiner’s register of interests and votes · Sources