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, 2019-20

186 claims, £212,140 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.	7	£155,930	73.5%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	149	£25,414	12.0%
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.	24	£24,062	11.3%
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.	6	£6,734	3.2%

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, 2019-20

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£146,738
Bought-in services	6	£9,192

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	12	£8,499
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	14	£3,853
Stationery & printing	21	£2,586
Business rates	1	£1,960
Utilities	22	£1,811
Equipment - purchase	18	£1,449

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	14	£23,316
Council tax	2	£571
Utilities	8	£174

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Mileage - car	3	£6,221
Rail	1	£304
Other public transport	1	£200
Parking	1	£9

Largest claims, 2019-20

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 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£146,738	£146,738
31 March 2020	MP Travel	Mileage - car	Aggregated figure for travel during 2019-20	£5,601	£5,601
9 October 2019	Staffing	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£2,000	£2,000
1 April 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,999	£1,999
23 April 2019	Office Costs	Business rates	CITY AND COUNTY OF	£1,960	£1,960
24 July 2019	Staffing	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£1,950	£1,950
21 May 2019	Staffing	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£1,950	£1,950
19 February 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,912	£1,912
20 January 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,912	£1,912
20 December 2019	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,912	£1,912
29 November 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,912	£1,912
24 October 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,912	£1,912
18 September 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,912	£1,912
21 August 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,912	£1,912
25 July 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,912	£1,912

Claims refused and money repaid, 2019-20

2 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £451 not paid and £587 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