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, 2023-24

144 claims, £285,526 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.2£229,25280.3%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.115£30,77610.8%
AccommodationThe 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.2£6,3292.2%
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.25£19,1696.7%

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, 2023-24

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£228,352
Training - staff1£900

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent12£10,800
Stationery & printing45£5,303
Pooled staffing services1£4,500
Advertising and contact cards7£2,310
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage18£1,662
Equipment - purchase4£1,411

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Service charge & ground Rent1£4,176
Council tax1£2,153

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail5£9,024
Hotel - London1£5,614
Parking4£1,942
Air travel2£1,138
Mileage - car4£816
Hotel - UK Not London2£283

Largest claims, 2023-24

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 2024StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year£228,352£228,352
31 March 2024Staff TravelHotel - LondonAggregated figure for travel during 2023-24£5,614£5,614
28 April 2023Office CostsPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£4,500£4,500
31 March 2024Staff TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2023-24£4,315£4,315
7 April 2023AccommodationService charge & ground Rentservice charge for calendar year 2023 - proportion for apr-dec 2023£4,176£4,176
31 March 2024MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2023-24£3,297£3,297
7 April 2023AccommodationCouncil taxLambeth Council Tax£2,153£2,153
31 March 2024MP TravelParkingAggregated figure for travel during 2023-24£1,799£1,799
10 August 2023Office CostsEquipment - purchaseComputer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories£1,000£1,000
2 April 2024Office CostsRent£900£900
6 March 2024StaffingTraining - staffCaseworker training£900£900
5 March 2024Office CostsRent£900£900
1 February 2024Office CostsRent£900£900
5 January 2024Office CostsRent£900£900
5 December 2023Office CostsRent£900£900

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