MPs’ business costs

Mr Bayo Alaba

IPSA paid £203,767 against 214 published rows for Mr Bayo Alaba between 2024-25 and 2025-26 as the member for Southend East and Rochford 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, 2024-25 to 2025-26

214 claims, £203,767 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.3£149,37373.3%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.167£39,02119.1%
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.36£14,0586.9%
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.7£1,1540.6%
MiscellaneousClaims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.1£1600.1%

Every year in the register

Mr Bayo Alaba’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2024-25 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 costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2024-25107£149,067£17,557£11,139£1,154£178,917
2025-26107£306£21,464£2,920£160£24,850

A year in which Mr Bayo Alaba 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, 2024-25 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£149,067
Training - staff2£306

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs7£6,036
Equipment - purchase19£5,917
Moving Fees1£4,114
Software & applications14£4,020
Stationery & printing47£3,866
Pooled staffing services1£3,000

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent10£10,350
Council tax12£2,462
Utilities14£1,247

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail3£661
Mileage - car1£376
Hotel - UK Not London1£88
Parking2£30

Miscellaneous

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Removals1£160

Largest claims, 2024-25 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 2025StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year£149,067£149,067
25 February 2025Office CostsMoving FeesLegal costs£4,114£4,114
2 November 2024AccommodationRentRent£3,150£3,150
3 October 2024Office CostsPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£3,000£3,000
6 May 2025Office CostsMaintenance, Redecorations & RepairsRedecoration work to make new constituency office fit for use (including the removal of basins and other surgical equipment from the office´s former use)£2,300£2,300
28 March 2025Office CostsEquipment - purchaseOffice furniture£1,977£1,977
23 June 2025Office CostsMaintenance, Redecorations & RepairsConstituency office signage£1,944£1,944
31 March 2025Office CostsLandline phone & internet - installation & equipment purchaseInternet£1,765£1,765
1 April 2025AccommodationRent£1,500£1,500
13 March 2025AccommodationRent£1,500£1,500
13 February 2025AccommodationRent[***] [***] [***] 1 Feb 2025 Rent of £1,500 due to Supplier ID [***]£1,500£1,500
4 August 2025Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES£1,476£1,476
11 September 2024Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES£1,440£1,440
2 May 2025Office CostsRentIPSA Rent [***] [200011802-464]£1,350£1,350
31 March 2025Office CostsStationery & printingAGA PRINT LTD [200011725-10652]£1,284£1,284

Claims refused and money repaid, 2024-25 to 2025-26

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £325 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 Mr Bayo Alaba 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 · Mr Bayo Alaba’s register of interests and votes · Sources