MPs’ business costs

Catherine West

IPSA paid £2,011,427 against 1,085 published rows for Catherine West between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Hornsey and Wood Green BC, then Hornsey and Friern Barnet 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, 2022-23

77 claims, £245,295 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.	5	£227,538	92.8%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	67	£16,858	6.9%
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.	5	£900	0.4%

Every year in the register

Catherine West’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	Travel	Starting up and winding up	Miscellaneous	Total
2015-16	50	£118,258	£9,204	£41	£4,070	—	£131,572
2016-17	102	£147,156	£12,163	£192	£1,930	£437	£161,878
2017-18	172	£152,272	£13,949	£468	—	—	£166,690
2018-19	257	£164,053	£11,777	£198	—	—	£176,028
2019-20	132	£162,197	£13,389	£457	—	—	£176,043
2020-21	71	£184,096	£15,547	£28	—	—	£199,671
2021-22	53	£213,573	£17,308	£687	—	—	£231,567
2022-23	77	£227,538	£16,858	£900	—	—	£245,295
2023-24	71	£232,536	£17,409	£1,257	—	£912	£252,114
2024-25	75	£243,195	£21,426	£196	—	—	£264,817
2025-26	25	£400	£5,351	—	—	—	£5,751

A year in which Catherine West 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, 2022-23

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£227,519
Volunteer - agreed arrangement costs	4	£19

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	14	£6,737
Pooled staffing services	1	£4,200
Equipment - purchase	2	£1,876
Software & applications	3	£1,077
Advertising and contact cards	2	£1,020
Stationery & printing	24	£570

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Hotel - European	1	£359
Air travel	1	£299
Other public transport	1	£147
Rail	1	£84
Taxi	1	£11

Largest claims, 2022-23

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 2023	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year	£227,519	£227,519
18 May 2022	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£4,200	£4,200
17 March 2022	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Computer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories	£1,864	£1,864
28 March 2023	Office Costs	Rent	—	£734	£734
28 February 2023	Office Costs	Rent	—	£734	£734
31 January 2023	Office Costs	Rent	—	£734	£734
29 December 2022	Office Costs	Rent	—	£734	£734
29 November 2022	Office Costs	Rent	—	£734	£734
22 November 2022	Office Costs	Rent	—	£734	£734
5 December 2022	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	Surgery Calendars for 2023	£610	£610
14 May 2022	Office Costs	Software & applications	Caseworker software annual hosting and support fee	£600	£600
31 March 2023	Office Costs	Working From Home Allowance	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2022-23	£520	£520
31 July 2022	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	Surgery calendar cards	£410	£410
31 March 2023	MP Travel	Hotel - European	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£359	£359
31 March 2023	MP Travel	Air travel	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£299	£299

Claims refused and money repaid, 2022-23

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £30 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 Catherine West 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 · Catherine West’s register of interests and votes · Sources