Civometry

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, 2023-24

221 claims, £278,840 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.19£214,67477.0%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.173£28,02510.1%
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.20£26,1109.4%
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.9£10,0323.6%

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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2010-11133£97,028£11,758£16,411£8,777£90£134,064
2011-12170£118,566£18,640£18,377£10,002£113£165,698
2012-13285£128,394£20,413£19,913£10,314£49£179,084
2013-14359£128,885£20,608£19,909£9,370—£178,773
2014-15218£132,869£23,492£20,600£8,353—£185,314
2015-16200£134,759£21,952£20,497£8,112—£185,320
2016-17193£137,533£20,438£20,605£8,744—£187,320
2017-18184£143,104£23,034£22,728£6,549—£195,415
2018-19289£151,079£23,385£22,695£8,556—£205,715
2019-20226£147,248£22,153£19,309£9,592—£198,301
2020-21251£168,172£16,532£22,850£2,916£53£210,522
2021-22247£180,844£28,263£23,158£8,004—£240,268
2022-23259£199,170£26,747£24,391£9,898—£260,206
2023-24221£214,674£28,025£26,110£10,032—£278,840
2024-25297£240,408£34,927£28,903£10,575—£314,812
2025-2643—£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, 2023-24

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£212,950
Volunteer - agreed arrangement costs15£914
Training - staff3£810

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent12£15,000
Equipment - purchase27£3,499
Service charge & ground Rent1£1,800
Mobile telephone - contract & usage54£1,544
Utilities3£1,488
Software & applications8£1,116

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent14£24,585
Council tax6£1,525

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail2£6,084
Parking2£2,374
Mileage - car3£1,382
Other public transport1£162
Railcard1£30

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£212,950£212,950
31 March 2024MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2023-24£5,768£5,768
12 March 2024AccommodationRent—£2,071£2,071
13 February 2024AccommodationRent—£2,071£2,071
11 January 2024AccommodationRent—£2,071£2,071
12 December 2023AccommodationRent—£2,071£2,071
14 November 2023AccommodationRent—£2,071£2,071
10 October 2023AccommodationRent—£2,071£2,071
12 September 2023AccommodationRent—£2,071£2,071
10 August 2023AccommodationRent—£2,071£2,071
11 July 2023AccommodationRent—£1,936£1,936
8 June 2023AccommodationRent—£1,936£1,936
9 May 2023AccommodationRent—£1,936£1,936
10 April 2023AccommodationRent—£1,936£1,936
18 May 2023Office CostsService charge & ground RentService Charge£1,800£1,800

Claims refused and money repaid, 2023-24

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £43 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 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