MPs’ business costs

Chris Bryant

IPSA paid £2,911,335 against 1,779 published rows for Chris Bryant between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Rhondda CC, then Rhondda and Ogmore 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, 2022-23

136 claims, £253,242 paid. The headings are IPSA’s own categories grouped; the categories inside each are named on the register page.

CategoryWhat it coversClaimsPaidShare
StaffingThe 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.3£223,68188.3%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.109£17,1856.8%
TravelJourneys 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.24£12,3774.9%

Every year in the register

Chris Bryant’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2010-11 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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2010-11114£90,223£11,891£15,558£8,208£1,700£127,580
2011-12126£105,343£12,447£19,774£9,475£147,039
2012-13112£119,456£13,668£19,915£10,643£163,682
2013-14128£119,773£15,287£20,061£10,823£165,944
2014-1590£118,594£12,853£20,553£8,133£160,134
2015-16116£134,669£15,014£9,862£9,271£1,758£170,574
2016-17108£142,720£18,242£8,735£12,174£181,871
2017-18109£131,119£21,828£8,849£10,881£172,677
2018-1992£139,343£24,198£5,150£12,955£650£182,297
2019-20144£135,997£24,849£5,266£16,779£182,892
2020-2196£172,596£18,425£10,409£4,315£205,746
2021-22131£177,519£21,720£6,390£10,157£215,786
2022-23136£223,681£17,185£12,377£253,242
2023-24144£229,252£30,776£6,329£19,169£285,526
2024-2588£238,344£21,255£6,630£10,893£277,121
2025-2645£1,950£10,403£6,870£19,223

A year in which Chris Bryant 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 typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£221,581
Pooled staffing services2£2,100

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent12£6,400
Pooled staffing services2£2,100
Advertising and contact cards8£2,000
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage19£1,545
Stationery & printing47£1,496
Service charge & ground Rent2£1,250

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail7£5,091
Hotel - London1£2,275
Parking1£1,768
Mileage - car3£1,710
Air travel2£450
Hotel - European1£358

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.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
31 March 2023StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year£221,581£221,581
31 March 2023MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2022-23£2,744£2,744
31 March 2023Staff TravelHotel - LondonAggregated figure for travel during 2022-23£2,275£2,275
31 March 2023MP TravelParkingAggregated figure for travel during 2022-23£1,768£1,768
31 March 2023Staff TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2022-23£1,446£1,446
31 March 2023MP TravelMileage - carAggregated figure for travel during 2022-23£1,407£1,407
22 March 2023Office CostsPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£1,050£1,050
4 January 2023Office CostsPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£1,050£1,050
7 September 2022StaffingPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£1,050£1,050
18 May 2022StaffingPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£1,050£1,050
4 April 2023Office CostsRent£900£900
4 October 2022Office CostsService charge & ground RentService Charge for 9 Compton Road£625£625
10 June 2022Office CostsService charge & ground RentService charge for Compton Road£625£625
27 July 2022Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES£600£600
2 March 2023Office CostsRent£500£500

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 Chris Bryant 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 · Chris Bryant’s register of interests and votes · Sources