MPs’ business costs
Blake Stephenson
IPSA paid £220,536 against 294 published rows for Blake Stephenson between 2024-25 and 2025-26 as the member for Mid Bedfordshire 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
214 claims, £202,994 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. | 11 | £167,461 | 82.5% |
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 173 | £28,612 | 14.1% |
| 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. | 18 | £2,138 | 1.1% |
| 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. | 12 | £4,783 | 2.4% |
Every year in the register
Blake Stephenson’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.
| Year | Claims | Staffing | Office costs | Accommodation | Travel | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 214 | £167,461 | £28,612 | £2,138 | £4,783 | £202,994 |
| 2025-26 | 80 | £650 | £13,124 | £3,767 | — | £17,542 |
A year in which Blake Stephenson 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
The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.
Staffing
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll | 1 | £149,173 |
| Bought-in services | 4 | £6,150 |
| Pooled staffing services | 1 | £5,265 |
| Training - staff | 4 | £4,373 |
| Recruitment Services &Costs | 1 | £2,500 |
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Equipment - purchase | 33 | £10,397 |
| Stationery & printing | 79 | £6,401 |
| Rent | 7 | £6,343 |
| Software & applications | 3 | £1,703 |
| Venue hire, meetings & surgeries | 23 | £1,242 |
| Landline phone & internet - rental & usage | 14 | £1,083 |
Accommodation
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Council tax | 6 | £1,008 |
| Service charge & ground Rent | 8 | £1,000 |
| Landline phone & internet - rental & usage | 3 | £96 |
| Landline phone & internet - installation & equipment purchase | 1 | £34 |
Travel
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Rail | 4 | £2,506 |
| Mileage - car | 4 | £1,766 |
| Parking | 2 | £415 |
| Other public transport | 1 | £86 |
| Hotel - UK Not London | 1 | £10 |
Largest claims, 2024-25
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 2025 | Staffing | Payroll | Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year | £149,173 | £149,173 |
| 18 March 2025 | Office Costs | Equipment - purchase | Other office equipment | £6,023 | £6,023 |
| 11 October 2024 | Staffing | Pooled staffing services | Policy Research Unit (Conservative) | £5,265 | £5,265 |
| 25 July 2024 | Staffing | Bought-in services | Professional & consultancy | £4,200 | £4,200 |
| 10 September 2024 | Staffing | Recruitment Services &Costs | New MP Staffing and Office Support Package [200011262-1] | £2,500 | £2,500 |
| 13 March 2025 | Staffing | Training - staff | PAYPAL IMANAGE [200011725-5992] | £2,297 | £2,297 |
| 28 October 2024 | Office Costs | Rent | [***] - October & November Rent | £2,114 | £2,114 |
| 13 March 2025 | Office Costs | Equipment - purchase | Other office equipment | £1,699 | £1,699 |
| 27 February 2025 | Staffing | Training - staff | HIVE SUPPORT LTD | £1,500 | £1,500 |
| 31 March 2025 | MP Travel | Rail | Aggregated figure for travel during 2024-25 | £1,163 | £1,163 |
| 31 March 2025 | Staff Travel | Rail | Aggregated figure for travel during 2024-25 | £1,122 | £1,122 |
| 31 March 2025 | Staff Travel | Mileage - car | Aggregated figure for travel during 2024-25 | £1,107 | £1,107 |
| 1 April 2025 | Office Costs | Rent | — | £1,057 | £1,057 |
| 4 March 2025 | Office Costs | Rent | — | £1,057 | £1,057 |
| 4 February 2025 | Office Costs | Rent | — | £1,057 | £1,057 |
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 Blake Stephenson 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 · Blake Stephenson’s register of interests and votes · Sources