MPs’ business costs

Ellie Reeves

IPSA paid £1,718,253 against 837 published rows for Ellie Reeves between 2017-18 and 2025-26 as the member for Lewisham West and Penge BC, then Lewisham West and East Dulwich 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, 2022-23

209 claims, £258,032 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.128£232,01789.9%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.81£26,01510.1%

Every year in the register

Ellie Reeves’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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsTravelTotal
2017-1878£108,799£23,086£144£132,029
2018-1959£155,810£25,903£50£181,763
2019-2068£157,945£22,078£50£180,072
2020-2195£198,105£26,178£30£224,312
2021-22120£213,799£27,164£157£241,120
2022-23209£232,017£26,015£258,032
2023-24119£227,297£23,995£182£251,474
2024-2567£220,065£24,999£245,064
2025-2622£4,386£4,386

A year in which Ellie Reeves 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, 2022-23

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£229,284
Volunteer - agreed arrangement costs125£2,217
Training - staff2£516

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent12£16,000
Pooled staffing services1£4,200
Stationery & printing46£2,215
Equipment - purchase8£1,142
Software & applications5£760
Working From Home Allowance1£624

Largest claims, 2022-23

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 2023StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year£229,284£229,284
18 May 2022Office CostsPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£4,200£4,200
16 March 2023Office CostsRent£1,333£1,333
16 February 2023Office CostsRent£1,333£1,333
17 January 2023Office CostsRent£1,333£1,333
15 December 2022Office CostsRent£1,333£1,333
15 November 2022Office CostsRent£1,333£1,333
18 October 2022Office CostsRent£1,333£1,333
15 September 2022Office CostsRent£1,333£1,333
16 August 2022Office CostsRent£1,333£1,333
19 July 2022Office CostsRent£1,333£1,333
16 June 2022Office CostsRent£1,333£1,333
17 May 2022Office CostsRent£1,333£1,333
19 April 2022Office CostsRent£1,333£1,333
24 January 2023Office CostsEquipment - purchaseComputer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories£855£855

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 Ellie Reeves 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 · Ellie Reeves’s register of interests and votes · Sources