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, 2025-26

33 claims, £21,298 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
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	33	£21,298	100.0%

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, 2025-26

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

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Bought-in services	13	£12,002
Stationery & printing	16	£5,969
Mobile telephone - equipment purchase	1	£1,499
Software & applications	1	£1,476
Equipment - purchase	2	£353

Largest claims, 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.

Date	Category	Cost type	Description	Claimed	Paid
10 June 2025	Office Costs	Bought-in services	Comms & Media	£2,008	£2,008
7 May 2025	Office Costs	Bought-in services	Comms & Media	£2,008	£2,008
11 August 2025	Office Costs	Bought-in services	Comms & Media	£1,901	£1,901
7 July 2025	Office Costs	Bought-in services	Comms & Media	£1,885	£1,885
2 December 2025	Office Costs	Mobile telephone - equipment purchase	New iPhone 17 Pro	£1,499	£1,499
30 October 2025	Office Costs	Software & applications	Elected Technologies caseworker annual fee	£1,476	£1,476
3 March 2025	Office Costs	Bought-in services	Comms & Media	£800	£800
14 March 2025	Office Costs	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£750	£750
10 April 2025	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	Banner May 2025	£686	£686
10 April 2025	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	Banner May 2025	£686	£686
10 April 2025	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	Banner May 2025	£686	£686
4 April 2025	Office Costs	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£650	£650
10 April 2025	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	Banner May 2025	£559	£559
7 March 2025	Office Costs	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£500	£500
24 March 2026	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	Banner March 2026	£458	£458

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