MPs’ business costs

Gareth Snell

IPSA paid £837,848 against 595 published rows for Gareth Snell between 2016-17 and 2025-26 as the member for Stoke-on-Trent Central 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, 2017-18

173 claims, £200,750 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	£135,777	67.6%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	141	£26,720	13.3%
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.	23	£25,092	12.5%
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	£13,161	6.6%

Every year in the register

Gareth Snell’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2016-17 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
2016-17	21	—	£432	£915	£997	£850	—	£3,194
2017-18	173	£135,777	£26,720	£25,092	£13,161	—	—	£200,750
2018-19	113	£150,690	£22,158	£28,247	£14,172	—	—	£215,268
2019-20	103	£106,055	£13,729	£19,421	£12,140	£44,538	£7,782	£203,664
2020-21	1	—	—	—	—	—	£280	£280
2024-25	102	£117,969	£26,586	£19,653	£11,851	—	—	£176,059
2025-26	82	£19,050	£18,026	£1,556	—	—	—	£38,632

A year in which Gareth Snell 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, 2017-18

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£106,477
Professional Services (Staff.)	3	£24,500
Pooled Services: Direct	4	£4,800

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Furniture Purchase	15	£5,256
Const Office Rent	10	£4,868
Computer HW Purchase	5	£4,348
Stationery Purchase	68	£3,864
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	4	£3,288
Other Equip Purchase	17	£2,684

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	10	£21,667
Hotel London Area	8	£2,566
Council Tax	2	£470
Electricity	3	£389

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£13,161

Largest claims, 2017-18

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 2018	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year	£106,477	£106,477
20 March 2018	Staffing	Professional Services (Staff.)	Professional Services	£20,000	£20,000
31 March 2018	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2017-18	£13,161	£13,161
2 March 2018	Staffing	Professional Services (Staff.)	Staffing	£3,250	£3,250
26 March 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,167	£2,167
23 February 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,167	£2,167
26 January 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,167	£2,167
21 December 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,167	£2,167
24 November 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,167	£2,167
29 October 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,167	£2,167
29 September 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,167	£2,167
29 August 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,167	£2,167
27 July 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,167	£2,167
30 June 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,167	£2,167
11 July 2017	Office Costs	Furniture Purchase	Credit Card July 2017	£2,071	£2,071

Claims refused and money repaid, 2017-18

3 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £650 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 Gareth Snell 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 · Gareth Snell’s register of interests and votes · Sources