MPs’ business costs

Emma Lewell

IPSA paid £2,515,246 against 1,811 published rows for Emma Lewell between 2013-14 and 2025-26 as the member for South Shields 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, 2013-14 to 2025-26

1,811 claims, £2,515,246 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.	35	£1,845,981	73.4%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	1,319	£269,087	10.7%
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.	337	£247,604	9.8%
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.	90	£143,885	5.7%
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.	15	£4,388	0.2%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	15	£4,302	0.2%

Every year in the register

Emma Lewell’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2013-14 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	Starting up and winding up	Miscellaneous	Total
2013-14	367	£86,538	£18,887	£20,777	£18,631	£3,738	£160	£148,732
2014-15	162	£129,675	£19,955	£17,285	£11,715	£650	—	£179,280
2015-16	136	£120,615	£19,963	£18,529	£9,603	—	£1,095	£169,805
2016-17	117	£125,241	£22,219	£18,221	£12,076	—	—	£177,758
2017-18	108	£136,710	£19,698	£18,860	£6,716	—	—	£181,983
2018-19	92	£146,913	£18,090	£19,226	£10,562	—	—	£194,790
2019-20	143	£150,393	£21,234	£20,706	£10,466	—	—	£202,799
2020-21	103	£170,188	£18,811	£19,001	£5,701	—	—	£213,702
2021-22	94	£155,808	£24,575	£20,856	£8,203	—	—	£209,442
2022-23	123	£184,017	£21,430	£22,071	£16,977	—	—	£244,494
2023-24	143	£207,973	£22,152	£20,534	£15,202	—	£846	£266,707
2024-25	152	£231,909	£29,176	£19,147	£18,032	—	£2,201	£300,466
2025-26	71	—	£12,898	£12,390	—	—	—	£25,288

A year in which Emma Lewell 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, 2013-14 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	12	£1,807,283
Pooled staffing services	5	£20,500
Pooled Services: Direct	2	£9,600
Bought-in services	3	£2,518
Professional Services (Staff.)	4	£1,958
Staff Training Costs	4	£1,710

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	20	£50,406
Const Office Rent	36	£47,851
Stationery Purchase	406	£18,276
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	117	£13,707
Equipment - purchase	41	£13,080
Service charge & ground Rent	29	£11,328

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	74	£97,853
Rent	36	£85,045
Hotel - London	83	£41,903
Interim Hotel London Area	19	£6,576
Council Tax	27	£4,920
Council tax	8	£3,919

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	6	£69,304
Rail	28	£61,248
Hotel - London	5	£3,899
Air travel	6	£3,186
Mileage - car	6	£2,221
Hotel - UK Not London	6	£1,522

Starting up and winding up

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Photocopier Purch StartUp	1	£1,914
Office Furn Purch StartUp	5	£864
Tel/Mobile Purch StartUp	4	£716
Website Design StartUp	1	£650
Install Office Equip. StartUp	2	£197
Office Alterations StartUp	2	£47

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Removals	4	£1,576
Removal Costs - Contingency	3	£1,095
Moving Fees	3	£863
Hotel - London	1	£608
Expense Outside Scheme	4	£160

Largest claims, 2013-14 to 2025-26

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 2025	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year	£227,309	£227,309
31 March 2024	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year	£203,473	£203,473
31 March 2023	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year	£177,537	£177,537
31 March 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£165,124	£165,124
31 March 2022	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£155,808	£155,808
31 March 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£145,607	£145,607
31 March 2019	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year	£141,550	£141,550
31 March 2018	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year	£131,085	£131,085
31 March 2015	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2014-15 year	£129,675	£129,675
31 March 2017	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year	£124,191	£124,191
31 March 2016	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year	£119,385	£119,385
31 March 2014	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2013-14 year	£86,538	£86,538
24 June 2024	Accommodation	Rent	[*] Rent Monies [*] [200010289-2]	£19,353	£19,353
31 March 2014	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2013-14	£18,631	£18,631
31 March 2025	Office Costs	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25	£12,644	£12,644

Claims refused and money repaid, 2013-14 to 2025-26

10 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £56 not paid and £2,465 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 Emma Lewell 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 · Emma Lewell’s register of interests and votes · Sources