MPs’ business costs

Mr Clive Betts

IPSA paid £3,133,618 against 3,575 published rows for Mr Clive Betts between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Sheffield South East 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, 2017-18

184 claims, £195,415 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.	30	£143,104	73.2%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	131	£23,034	11.8%
Accommodation	The 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.	22	£22,728	11.6%
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.	1	£6,549	3.4%

Every year in the register

Mr Clive Betts’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.

Year	Claims	Staffing	Office costs	Accommodation	Travel	Miscellaneous	Total
2010-11	133	£97,028	£11,758	£16,411	£8,777	£90	£134,064
2011-12	170	£118,566	£18,640	£18,377	£10,002	£113	£165,698
2012-13	285	£128,394	£20,413	£19,913	£10,314	£49	£179,084
2013-14	359	£128,885	£20,608	£19,909	£9,370	—	£178,773
2014-15	218	£132,869	£23,492	£20,600	£8,353	—	£185,314
2015-16	200	£134,759	£21,952	£20,497	£8,112	—	£185,320
2016-17	193	£137,533	£20,438	£20,605	£8,744	—	£187,320
2017-18	184	£143,104	£23,034	£22,728	£6,549	—	£195,415
2018-19	289	£151,079	£23,385	£22,695	£8,556	—	£205,715
2019-20	226	£147,248	£22,153	£19,309	£9,592	—	£198,301
2020-21	251	£168,172	£16,532	£22,850	£2,916	£53	£210,522
2021-22	247	£180,844	£28,263	£23,158	£8,004	—	£240,268
2022-23	259	£199,170	£26,747	£24,391	£9,898	—	£260,206
2023-24	221	£214,674	£28,025	£26,110	£10,032	—	£278,840
2024-25	297	£240,408	£34,927	£28,903	£10,575	—	£314,812
2025-26	43	—	£8,322	£5,081	—	£564	£13,966

A year in which Mr Clive Betts 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, 2017-18

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£142,808
Public Tr UND Volunteer	6	£198
Food & Drink Volunteer	23	£98

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Professional Services	11	£8,371
Const Office Rent	5	£7,323
Computer HW Purchase	5	£1,651
Tel/Mobile Purchase	7	£1,428
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	40	£941
Computer SW Purchase	4	£722

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	14	£21,213
Council Tax	8	£1,515

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£6,549

Largest claims, 2017-18

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 2018	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year	£142,808	£142,808
31 March 2018	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2017-18	£6,549	£6,549
18 December 2017	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,800	£1,800
20 September 2017	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,800	£1,800
19 June 2017	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,800	£1,800
1 April 2017	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,800	£1,800
2 March 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,733	£1,733
21 January 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,733	£1,733
21 December 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,733	£1,733
4 December 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,733	£1,733
3 November 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,733	£1,733
3 October 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,733	£1,733
6 September 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,733	£1,733
2 August 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,733	£1,733
5 July 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,690	£1,690

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 Mr Clive Betts 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 · Mr Clive Betts’s register of interests and votes · Sources