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, 2021-22

141 claims, £208,126 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.	5	£171,047	82.2%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	118	£28,582	13.7%
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.	13	£3,218	1.5%
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.	5	£5,279	2.5%

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, 2021-22

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£169,700
Training - staff	4	£1,348

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	4	£13,500
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	22	£3,899
Business rates	10	£3,199
Equipment - purchase	6	£2,120
Working From Home Allowance	1	£1,439
Software & applications	22	£1,271

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Council tax	1	£2,369
Utilities	12	£849

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Mileage - car	2	£3,956
Congestion charge & toll	1	£1,045
Rail	1	£261
Parking	1	£17

Largest claims, 2021-22

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 2022	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£169,700	£169,700
31 March 2022	MP Travel	Mileage - car	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£3,822	£3,822
1 March 2022	Office Costs	Rent	—	£3,375	£3,375
2 December 2021	Office Costs	Rent	—	£3,375	£3,375
2 September 2021	Office Costs	Rent	Rent	£3,375	£3,375
1 June 2021	Office Costs	Rent	—	£3,375	£3,375
6 April 2021	Accommodation	Council tax	Annual Council Tax Charge	£2,369	£2,369
31 March 2022	Office Costs	Working From Home Allowance	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£1,439	£1,439
31 March 2022	MP Travel	Congestion charge & toll	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£1,045	£1,045
26 March 2021	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Computer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories	£908	£908
14 May 2021	Office Costs	Software & applications	ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES	£600	£600
3 March 2022	Office Costs	Bought-in services	Parliamentary accountancy	£554	£554
15 September 2021	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Other office equipment	£446	£446
23 March 2021	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Computer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories	£427	£427
18 May 2021	Office Costs	Waste disposal, confidential waste & rubbish collection	CARDIFF COUNCIL EPAY	£394	£394

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