MPs’ business costs
Ed Davey
IPSA paid £2,616,266 against 1,207 published rows for Ed Davey between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Kingston and Surbiton 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, 2015-16
36 claims, £99,738 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. | 1 | £14,407 | 14.4% |
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 12 | £4,037 | 4.0% |
| Starting up and winding up | The one-off costs of opening an office on election and of closing one on leaving. These fall in the years around a general election and are absent from the rest. | 23 | £81,295 | 81.5% |
Every year in the register
Ed Davey’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 | Travel | Starting up and winding up | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-11 | 89 | £89,387 | £24,352 | £53 | — | £113,792 |
| 2011-12 | 87 | £112,952 | £27,205 | — | — | £140,157 |
| 2012-13 | 88 | £142,972 | £21,330 | — | — | £164,302 |
| 2013-14 | 92 | £144,343 | £24,533 | £17 | — | £168,893 |
| 2014-15 | 112 | £150,788 | £24,839 | — | — | £175,627 |
| 2015-16 | 36 | £14,407 | £4,037 | — | £81,295 | £99,738 |
| 2017-18 | 23 | £134,625 | £22,620 | £275 | — | £157,520 |
| 2018-19 | 45 | £161,481 | £25,006 | — | — | £186,487 |
| 2019-20 | 89 | £148,975 | £25,155 | — | — | £174,130 |
| 2020-21 | 65 | £178,657 | £27,204 | — | — | £205,861 |
| 2021-22 | 56 | £206,297 | £24,649 | — | — | £230,947 |
| 2022-23 | 112 | £208,784 | £21,635 | £54 | — | £230,474 |
| 2023-24 | 138 | £236,357 | £29,628 | — | — | £265,985 |
| 2024-25 | 128 | £268,810 | £26,028 | — | — | £294,837 |
| 2025-26 | 47 | — | £7,516 | — | — | £7,516 |
A year in which Ed Davey 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, 2015-16
The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.
Staffing
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll | 1 | £14,407 |
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Const Office Rent | 1 | £3,088 |
| Const Office Gas | 1 | £257 |
| Const Office Electricity | 1 | £248 |
| Const Office cleaning | 3 | £179 |
| Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental | 2 | £107 |
| Const Office Internet Rental | 2 | £86 |
Starting up and winding up
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll | 1 | £73,503 |
| Office Rent | 1 | £2,470 |
| Office Equipment Hire | 1 | £2,460 |
| Office Make Good Dilapidations | 2 | £1,433 |
| Office Shredding/Removing Data | 2 | £438 |
| Office Miscellaneous | 4 | £326 |
Largest claims, 2015-16
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 2016 | Winding Up | Payroll | Total payroll costs from the Winding Up budget for the 2015-16 year | £73,503 | £73,503 |
| 31 March 2016 | Staffing | Payroll | Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year | £14,407 | £14,407 |
| 1 April 2015 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | [***] | £3,088 | £3,088 |
| 6 July 2015 | Winding Up | Office Rent | — | £2,470 | £2,470 |
| 10 June 2015 | Winding Up | Office Equipment Hire | settlement of agreement | £2,460 | £2,460 |
| 8 July 2015 | Winding Up | Office Make Good Dilapidations | Office touch up | £1,313 | £1,313 |
| 8 July 2015 | Winding Up | Office Shredding/Removing Data | shredding casework part 2 | £303 | £303 |
| 6 May 2015 | Office Costs | Const Office Gas | british gas feb 2015 | £257 | £257 |
| 6 May 2015 | Office Costs | Const Office Electricity | Southern Electric | £248 | £248 |
| 7 July 2015 | Winding Up | Office Miscellaneous | office cleaning | £162 | £162 |
| 6 July 2015 | Winding Up | Office Electricity | closing bill electric | £149 | £149 |
| 6 July 2015 | Winding Up | Office Shredding/Removing Data | shredding casework | £135 | £135 |
| 8 June 2015 | Office Costs | Const Office cleaning | Office Cleaning | £126 | £126 |
| 1 July 2015 | Winding Up | Office Make Good Dilapidations | Rubbish Clearance | £120 | £120 |
| 15 June 2015 | Winding Up | Office Miscellaneous | room hi8re | £120 | £120 |
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 Ed Davey 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 · Ed Davey’s register of interests and votes · Sources