MPs’ business costs

Jo Stevens

IPSA paid £1,929,006 against 1,221 published rows for Jo Stevens between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Cardiff Central BC, then Cardiff East 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, 2015-16 to 2025-26

1,221 claims, £1,929,006 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.	39	£1,572,503	81.5%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	1,047	£251,790	13.1%
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.	73	£40,839	2.1%
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.	37	£55,279	2.9%
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.	22	£5,996	0.3%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	3	£2,599	0.1%

Every year in the register

Jo Stevens’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2015-16 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
2015-16	102	£80,259	£17,934	£3,854	£4,936	£5,996	£1,572	£114,550
2016-17	98	£137,668	£21,979	£2,094	£8,011	—	—	£169,752
2017-18	103	£129,736	£21,259	£2,034	£7,240	—	£115	£160,384
2018-19	128	£144,922	£23,428	£5,542	£9,323	—	—	£183,215
2019-20	94	£132,500	£23,921	£5,085	£5,643	—	—	£167,149
2020-21	113	£152,863	£27,753	£5,186	£2,219	—	—	£188,021
2021-22	141	£171,047	£28,582	£3,218	£5,279	—	—	£208,126
2022-23	145	£188,387	£26,120	£7,932	£5,007	—	—	£227,446
2023-24	126	£208,497	£24,692	£5,896	£6,235	—	£912	£246,232
2024-25	109	£226,625	£24,678	—	£1,385	—	—	£252,688
2025-26	62	—	£11,444	—	—	—	—	£11,444

A year in which Jo Stevens 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, 2015-16 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	10	£1,550,997
Pooled Services: Direct	2	£7,600
Bought-in services	3	£5,375
Training - staff	17	£3,416
Professional Services (Staff.)	2	£3,016
Pooled Services	1	£1,200

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	22	£79,878
Const Office Rent	19	£51,532
Business rates	37	£20,512
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	93	£16,927
Software & applications	105	£9,678
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	74	£8,931

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Service charge & ground Rent	5	£12,539
Council tax	5	£11,848
Council Tax	7	£8,689
Service Charges	2	£2,992
Utilities	41	£2,930
Water	3	£1,191

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	4	£29,511
Mileage - car	8	£16,522
Rail	8	£4,790
Congestion charge & toll	7	£3,642
Other public transport	2	£502
Parking	7	£297

Starting up and winding up

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Office Furn Purch StartUp	11	£3,695
Install Office Equip. StartUp	3	£1,043
Tel/Mobile Purch StartUp	1	£499
Comp HW Purch StartUp	1	£317
Other Equipment Purch StartUp	3	£202
Purchase of TV StartUp	2	£200

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Contingency	2	£1,687
IPSA RICS Valuation	1	£912

Largest claims, 2015-16 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	£226,625	£226,625
31 March 2024	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year	£208,497	£208,497
31 March 2023	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year	£187,033	£187,033
31 March 2022	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£169,700	£169,700
31 March 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£150,214	£150,214
31 March 2019	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year	£141,906	£141,906
31 March 2017	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year	£132,768	£132,768
31 March 2018	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year	£129,736	£129,736
31 March 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£128,260	£128,260
31 March 2016	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year	£76,259	£76,259
31 March 2025	Office Costs	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25	£13,503	£13,503
31 March 2019	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2018-19	£9,323	£9,323
31 March 2017	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2016-17	£8,011	£8,011
31 March 2018	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2017-18	£7,240	£7,240
3 September 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£6,750	£6,750

Claims refused and money repaid, 2015-16 to 2025-26

7 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £5,695 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 Jo Stevens 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 · Jo Stevens’s register of interests and votes · Sources