MPs’ business costs
Darren Jones
IPSA paid £2,002,832 against 1,176 published rows for Darren Jones between 2017-18 and 2025-26 as the member for Bristol North West 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, 2018-19
154 claims, £211,051 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. | 8 | £148,377 | 70.3% |
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 107 | £24,309 | 11.5% |
| 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. | 37 | £28,165 | 13.3% |
| 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 | £9,615 | 4.6% |
| Miscellaneous | Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19. | 1 | £585 | 0.3% |
Every year in the register
Darren Jones’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2017-18 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-18 | 123 | £115,321 | £25,837 | £19,286 | £8,916 | — | £169,361 |
| 2018-19 | 154 | £148,377 | £24,309 | £28,165 | £9,615 | £585 | £211,051 |
| 2019-20 | 140 | £156,284 | £25,005 | £32,881 | £9,729 | — | £223,899 |
| 2020-21 | 134 | £175,088 | £28,678 | £33,822 | £2,922 | — | £240,510 |
| 2021-22 | 111 | £181,895 | £28,157 | £29,591 | £9,416 | £852 | £249,910 |
| 2022-23 | 143 | £208,764 | £25,347 | £28,701 | £9,036 | — | £271,848 |
| 2023-24 | 199 | £225,019 | £25,591 | £34,298 | £9,614 | £2,141 | £296,662 |
| 2024-25 | 128 | £239,904 | £26,565 | £46,600 | £7,970 | £6,632 | £327,670 |
| 2025-26 | 44 | — | £6,706 | £5,215 | — | — | £11,921 |
A year in which Darren Jones 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, 2018-19
The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.
Staffing
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll | 1 | £134,471 |
| Professional Services (Staff.) | 2 | £8,397 |
| Pooled Services: Direct | 1 | £4,400 |
| Staff Training Costs | 2 | £881 |
| Health and Welfare Costs | 2 | £227 |
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Const Office Rent | 12 | £17,040 |
| Computer HW Purchase | 9 | £1,750 |
| Other Equip Purchase | 11 | £1,099 |
| Computer SW Purchase | 5 | £985 |
| Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting | 23 | £881 |
| Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental | 11 | £587 |
Accommodation
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Accommodation Rent | 15 | £25,613 |
| Council Tax | 1 | £1,259 |
| Other Fuel | 8 | £927 |
| Water | 6 | £210 |
| Electricity | 6 | £91 |
| Service Charges | 1 | £65 |
Travel
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Aggregated Travel Costs | 1 | £9,615 |
Miscellaneous
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Removal Costs - Contingency | 1 | £585 |
Largest claims, 2018-19
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 2019 | Staffing | Payroll | Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year | £134,471 | £134,471 |
| 31 March 2019 | Travel | Aggregated Travel Costs | Aggregated figure for travel during 2018-19 | £9,615 | £9,615 |
| 12 March 2019 | Staffing | Professional Services (Staff.) | Delta Poll Researcher | £5,940 | £5,940 |
| 14 June 2018 | Staffing | Pooled Services: Direct | PRS | £4,400 | £4,400 |
| 28 February 2019 | Accommodation | Accommodation Rent | London home rent - March 19 | £2,569 | £2,569 |
| 31 January 2019 | Accommodation | Accommodation Rent | Feb 19 - rent | £2,569 | £2,569 |
| 7 September 2018 | Accommodation | Accommodation Rent | Sept card rec | £2,569 | £2,569 |
| 4 December 2018 | Accommodation | Accommodation Rent | Rent - December 18 | £2,469 | £2,469 |
| 1 November 2018 | Accommodation | Accommodation Rent | London home rent | £2,469 | £2,469 |
| 22 March 2019 | Staffing | Professional Services (Staff.) | Bought in Delivery Service | £2,457 | £2,457 |
| 8 October 2018 | Accommodation | Accommodation Rent | London Accommodation - Oct 18 | £2,350 | £2,350 |
| 26 July 2018 | Accommodation | Accommodation Rent | MP August Accomodation | £1,755 | £1,755 |
| 27 June 2018 | Accommodation | Accommodation Rent | MP accom rent - July 18 | £1,755 | £1,755 |
| 30 May 2018 | Accommodation | Accommodation Rent | accomodation - June 2018 | £1,755 | £1,755 |
| 4 May 2018 | Accommodation | Accommodation Rent | May rent | £1,755 | £1,755 |
Claims refused and money repaid, 2018-19
1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £105 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 Darren Jones 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 · Darren Jones’s register of interests and votes · Sources