MPs’ business costs

Carolyn Harris

IPSA paid £2,397,383 against 1,804 published rows for Carolyn Harris between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Swansea East BC, then Neath and Swansea East 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, 2015-16 to 2025-26

1,804 claims, £2,397,383 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.	62	£1,820,970	76.0%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	1,485	£263,117	11.0%
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.	194	£233,836	9.8%
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.	46	£73,373	3.1%
Starting up and winding up	The one-off costs of opening an office on election and of closing one on leaving. These fall in the years around a general election and are absent from the rest.	15	£5,967	0.2%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	2	£120	0.0%

Every year in the register

Carolyn Harris’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2015-16 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	Starting up and winding up	Miscellaneous	Total
2015-16	152	£127,917	£19,363	£15,688	£10,782	£5,967	—	£179,716
2016-17	132	£154,218	£23,450	£20,114	£7,843	—	—	£205,626
2017-18	140	£149,536	£26,013	£24,719	£6,290	—	—	£206,559
2018-19	157	£153,620	£24,341	£25,633	£6,933	—	—	£210,527
2019-20	186	£155,930	£25,414	£24,062	£6,734	—	—	£212,140
2020-21	197	£181,881	£27,755	£19,012	£4,983	—	—	£233,632
2021-22	174	£204,195	£28,465	£23,911	£5,827	—	—	£262,398
2022-23	224	£219,355	£25,406	£25,463	£6,983	—	£120	£277,326
2023-24	220	£230,828	£29,544	£26,014	£9,245	—	—	£295,631
2024-25	187	£243,490	£26,594	£28,458	£7,753	—	—	£306,295
2025-26	35	—	£6,771	£763	—	—	—	£7,534

A year in which Carolyn Harris 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, 2015-16 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	10	£1,730,255
Professional Services (Staff.)	24	£37,162
Bought-in services	14	£34,492
Pooled staffing services	3	£10,100
Pooled Services	4	£6,409
Training - staff	3	£2,563

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	50	£51,314
Const Office Rent	48	£31,517
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	96	£21,245
Equipment - purchase	122	£15,969
Stationery & printing	214	£15,928
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	49	£11,039

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	51	£141,762
Accommodation Rent	50	£78,732
Council tax	10	£5,073
Council Tax	6	£3,932
Gas	10	£1,288
Hotel London Area	5	£945

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Mileage - car	18	£35,368
Aggregated Travel Costs	4	£31,849
Rail	12	£4,735
Hotel - UK Not London	5	£918
Other public transport	2	£280
Hotel - London	1	£200

Starting up and winding up

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Training for MP Staff StartUp	1	£1,500
Comp SW Purch StartUp	1	£1,000
Office Alterations StartUp	1	£1,000
Comp HW Purch StartUp	2	£878
Office Furn Purch StartUp	5	£812
Install Office Equip. StartUp	2	£549

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Cleaning services	2	£120

Largest claims, 2015-16 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.

Date	Category	Cost type	Description	Claimed	Paid
31 March 2025	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year	£240,928	£240,928
31 March 2024	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year	£226,328	£226,328
31 March 2023	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year	£215,155	£215,155
31 March 2022	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£190,695	£190,695
31 March 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£168,681	£168,681
31 March 2019	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year	£151,734	£151,734
31 March 2018	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year	£149,536	£149,536
31 March 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£146,738	£146,738
31 March 2017	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year	£131,814	£131,814
31 March 2016	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year	£108,646	£108,646
31 March 2025	Accommodation	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25	£27,450	£27,450
31 March 2022	Accommodation	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£22,536	£22,536
31 March 2016	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2015-16	£10,782	£10,782
31 March 2025	Office Costs	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25	£9,000	£9,000
31 March 2022	Office Costs	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£8,499	£8,499

Claims refused and money repaid, 2015-16 to 2025-26

19 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £481 not paid and £2,764 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 Carolyn Harris 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 · Carolyn Harris’s register of interests and votes · Sources