MPs’ business costs

Ian Byrne

IPSA paid £1,353,594 against 1,003 published rows for Ian Byrne between 2019-20 and 2025-26 as the member for Liverpool, West Derby BC, then Liverpool West Derby 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, 2020-21

132 claims, £203,586 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	£145,559	71.5%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	89	£25,807	12.7%
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.	28	£29,557	14.5%
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.	7	£2,663	1.3%

Every year in the register

Ian Byrne’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2019-20 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	Total
2019-20	51	£32,607	£12,947	£7,605	£3,875	£57,034
2020-21	132	£145,559	£25,807	£29,557	£2,663	£203,586
2021-22	135	£138,195	£24,513	£28,843	£11,956	£203,506
2022-23	192	£197,780	£22,132	£27,951	£15,330	£263,192
2023-24	213	£219,342	£27,402	£37,419	£18,763	£302,926
2024-25	209	£225,964	£24,769	£32,172	£15,112	£298,018
2025-26	71	£17,280	£7,856	£196	—	£25,331

A year in which Ian Byrne 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, 2020-21

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£125,499
Bought-in services	6	£19,955
Health & welfare - staff	1	£105

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	11	£9,625
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs	6	£6,120
Stationery & printing	11	£3,479
Equipment - purchase	34	£2,940
Working From Home Allowance	1	£1,230
Mobile telephone - contract & usage	12	£977

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	17	£28,715
Utilities	7	£592
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	2	£186
Council tax	1	£65
Landline phone & internet - installation & equipment purchase	1	£0

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	4	£2,500
Mileage - car	1	£100
Parking	1	£53
Congestion charge & toll	1	£10

Largest claims, 2020-21

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 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£125,499	£125,499
4 March 2021	Staffing	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£6,250	£6,250
6 November 2020	Staffing	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£6,250	£6,250
22 February 2021	Staffing	Bought-in services	Administrative services	£5,000	£5,000
1 December 2020	Office Costs	Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs	Shutters for building extra security	£3,414	£3,414
2 March 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,300	£2,300
2 February 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,300	£2,300
6 January 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,300	£2,300
1 December 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,300	£2,300
1 November 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,300	£2,300
4 October 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,300	£2,300
1 September 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,300	£2,300
1 August 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,300	£2,300
1 July 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,300	£2,300
31 March 2021	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2020-21	£2,253	£2,253

Claims refused and money repaid, 2020-21

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £335 not paid and £0 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 Ian Byrne 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 · Ian Byrne’s register of interests and votes · Sources