MPs’ business costs

Jessica Toale

IPSA paid £237,717 against 174 published rows for Jessica Toale between 2024-25 and 2025-26 as the member for Bournemouth West 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, 2024-25 to 2025-26

174 claims, £237,717 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.8£175,29573.7%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.147£41,33917.4%
AccommodationThe 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.9£14,7016.2%
TravelJourneys 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.9£6,2322.6%
MiscellaneousClaims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.1£1500.1%

Every year in the register

Jessica Toale’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2024-25 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 costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2024-25124£161,255£28,645£14,701£6,232£150£210,982
2025-2650£14,040£12,694£26,734

A year in which Jessica Toale 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, 2024-25 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£149,636
Bought-in services5£22,440
Pooled staffing services1£3,000
Working From Home Allowance1£219

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Equipment - purchase19£12,107
Rent7£10,151
Software & applications6£3,820
Stationery & printing52£3,578
Service charge & ground Rent5£3,036
Venue hire, meetings & surgeries29£2,498

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent9£14,701

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail5£5,026
Mileage - car2£855
Air travel1£263
Subsistence1£88

Miscellaneous

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Removals1£150

Largest claims, 2024-25 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.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
31 March 2025StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year£149,636£149,636
31 March 2025StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£12,000£12,000
30 March 2025StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£6,000£6,000
6 March 2025Office CostsEquipment - purchaseOffice furniture£4,950£4,950
3 October 2024StaffingPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£3,000£3,000
18 February 2025Office CostsRent£2,760£2,760
17 February 2025Office CostsEquipment - purchaseOther office equipment£2,520£2,520
13 September 2024Office CostsRent[***] - First rent -£2,300£2,300
31 March 2025Staff TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£2,059£2,059
8 March 2026StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£2,040£2,040
24 January 2025AccommodationRentRent for constituency accommodation£1,995£1,995
24 December 2024AccommodationRentConstituency Accommodation - Dec 2024 - Jan 2025£1,995£1,995
24 November 2024AccommodationRentConstituency Accommodation - Nov - Dec 2024£1,995£1,995
24 October 2024AccommodationRentConstituency Accommodation - Oct - Nov 2024£1,995£1,995
24 September 2024AccommodationRentConstituency Accommodation - Sept - Oct 2024£1,995£1,995

Claims refused and money repaid, 2024-25 to 2025-26

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £36 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 Jessica Toale 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 · Jessica Toale’s register of interests and votes · Sources