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
102 claims, £114,550 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. | 3 | £80,259 | 70.1% |
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 69 | £17,934 | 15.7% |
| 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. | 6 | £3,854 | 3.4% |
| 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 | £4,936 | 4.3% |
| 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 | 5.2% |
| Miscellaneous | Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19. | 1 | £1,572 | 1.4% |
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
The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.
Staffing
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll | 1 | £76,259 |
| Pooled Services: Direct | 1 | £2,800 |
| Pooled Services | 1 | £1,200 |
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Const Office Rent | 3 | £11,244 |
| Stationery Purchase | 19 | £2,186 |
| Business Rates | 2 | £1,228 |
| Computer SW Purchase | 1 | £1,000 |
| Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental | 10 | £811 |
| Postage Purchase | 4 | £385 |
Accommodation
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Service Charges | 2 | £2,992 |
| Council Tax | 2 | £736 |
| Gas | 1 | £66 |
| Electricity | 1 | £60 |
Travel
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Aggregated Travel Costs | 1 | £4,936 |
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 | 1 | £1,572 |
Largest claims, 2015-16
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 2016 | Staffing | Payroll | Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year | £76,259 | £76,259 |
| 3 September 2015 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | — | £6,750 | £6,750 |
| 31 March 2016 | Travel | Aggregated Travel Costs | Aggregated figure for travel during 2015-16 | £4,936 | £4,936 |
| 25 November 2015 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | — | £3,375 | £3,375 |
| 10 November 2015 | Staffing | Pooled Services: Direct | PRS | £2,800 | £2,800 |
| 18 February 2016 | Accommodation | Service Charges | Accommodation Feb 2016 | £1,807 | £1,807 |
| 4 January 2016 | Miscellaneous Expenses | Contingency | Security for constituency ofce | £1,572 | £1,572 |
| 27 January 2016 | Staffing | Pooled Services | Pooled research | £1,200 | £1,200 |
| 1 October 2015 | Accommodation | Service Charges | Accommodation expenses | £1,185 | £1,185 |
| 25 February 2016 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | — | £1,119 | £1,119 |
| 21 September 2015 | Office Costs | Computer SW Purchase | Payment card September 2015 | £1,000 | £1,000 |
| 31 July 2015 | Start Up | Install Office Equip. StartUp | Start Up May-Jul 2015 | £959 | £959 |
| 10 July 2015 | Start Up | Office Furn Purch StartUp | Credit Card July 2015 | £891 | £891 |
| 10 July 2015 | Start Up | Office Furn Purch StartUp | Credit Card July 2015 | £835 | £835 |
| 7 March 2016 | Office Costs | Business Rates | Payment card March 2016 | £800 | £800 |
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