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, 2024-25
75 claims, £264,817 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. | 2 | £243,195 | 91.8% |
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 70 | £21,426 | 8.1% |
| 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. | 3 | £196 | 0.1% |
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, 2024-25
The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.
Staffing
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll | 1 | £242,883 |
| Working From Home Allowance | 1 | £312 |
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Rent | 1 | £8,808 |
| Pooled staffing services | 1 | £4,600 |
| Stationery & printing | 21 | £3,074 |
| Advertising and contact cards | 3 | £1,557 |
| Software & applications | 6 | £1,122 |
| Mobile telephone - equipment purchase | 1 | £1,099 |
Travel
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Other public transport | 2 | £189 |
| Rail | 1 | £7 |
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 | £242,883 | £242,883 |
| 31 March 2025 | Office Costs | Rent | Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25 | £8,808 | £8,808 |
| 12 April 2024 | Office Costs | Pooled staffing services | Parliamentary Research Service (Labour) | £4,600 | £4,600 |
| 17 July 2024 | Office Costs | Mobile telephone - equipment purchase | Iphone for MP | £1,099 | £1,099 |
| 8 August 2024 | Office Costs | Advertising and contact cards | Surgery contact leaflets | £932 | £932 |
| 26 February 2025 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | Toner for printer | £828 | £828 |
| 11 September 2024 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | Toner for printer | £762 | £762 |
| 15 May 2024 | Office Costs | Software & applications | Casework software annual hosting and support fee | £720 | £720 |
| 31 July 2024 | Office Costs | Advertising and contact cards | Posters for surgery details, further to boundary changes | £427 | £427 |
| 31 March 2025 | Staffing | Working From Home Allowance | Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25 | £312 | £312 |
| 11 February 2025 | Office Costs | Software & applications | ADOBE PREMIERE PRO | £263 | £263 |
| 5 August 2024 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | Banner September 2024 | £220 | £220 |
| 30 September 2024 | Office Costs | Advertising and contact cards | Pop up banner with contact details | £198 | £198 |
| 31 March 2025 | Staff Travel | Other public transport | Aggregated figure for travel during 2024-25 | £184 | £184 |
| 15 January 2025 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | Banner February 2025 | £163 | £163 |
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