MPs’ business costs

Claire Coutinho

IPSA paid £1,000,507 against 488 published rows for Claire Coutinho between 2019-20 and 2025-26 as the member for East Surrey 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 to 2025-26

488 claims, £1,000,507 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.	12	£911,953	91.1%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	450	£84,648	8.5%
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.	25	£2,993	0.3%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	1	£912	0.1%

Every year in the register

Claire Coutinho’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2019-20 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	Miscellaneous	Total
2019-20	53	£23,858	£2,412	£147	—	£26,416
2020-21	49	£158,272	£10,960	£141	—	£169,374
2021-22	92	£185,906	£13,127	£796	—	£199,829
2022-23	105	£188,573	£15,856	£851	—	£205,279
2023-24	92	£180,410	£14,935	£671	£912	£196,928
2024-25	65	£174,934	£16,931	£388	—	£192,253
2025-26	32	—	£10,428	—	—	£10,428

A year in which Claire Coutinho 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 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	6	£908,792
Pooled staffing services	1	£2,988
Volunteer - agreed arrangement costs	5	£174

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Advertising and contact cards	73	£20,342
Rent	26	£16,875
Pooled staffing services	6	£15,473
Stationery & printing	198	£10,602
Software & applications	100	£8,960
Training - staff	5	£5,473

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	12	£1,653
Mileage - car	11	£1,295
Congestion charge & toll	2	£45

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
IPSA RICS Valuation	1	£912

Largest claims, 2019-20 to 2025-26

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	£188,478	£188,478
31 March 2022	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£182,839	£182,839
31 March 2024	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year	£180,410	£180,410
31 March 2025	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year	£174,934	£174,934
31 March 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£158,272	£158,272
31 March 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£23,858	£23,858
31 March 2025	Office Costs	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25	£4,500	£4,500
1 May 2024	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Policy Research Unit (Conservative)	£3,548	£3,548
31 March 2022	Office Costs	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£3,375	£3,375
18 April 2023	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Policy Research Unit (Conservative)	£3,188	£3,188
28 April 2022	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Policy Research Unit (Conservative)	£3,088	£3,088
27 May 2020	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Policy Research Unit (Conservative)	£3,049	£3,049
7 April 2021	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Policy Research Unit (Conservative)	£2,988	£2,988
17 May 2021	Office Costs	Training - staff	Speechwriting training for [*] [*] and rest of team. Nine week course.	£2,520	£2,520
31 March 2022	Office Costs	Working From Home Allowance	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£1,872	£1,872

Claims refused and money repaid, 2019-20 to 2025-26

3 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £150 not paid and £262 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 Claire Coutinho 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 · Claire Coutinho’s register of interests and votes · Sources