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, 2024-25

109 claims, £252,688 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.1£226,62589.7%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.103£24,6789.8%
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.1£00.0%
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.4£1,3850.5%

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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelStarting up and winding upMiscellaneousTotal
2015-16102£80,259£17,934£3,854£4,936£5,996£1,572£114,550
2016-1798£137,668£21,979£2,094£8,011£169,752
2017-18103£129,736£21,259£2,034£7,240£115£160,384
2018-19128£144,922£23,428£5,542£9,323£183,215
2019-2094£132,500£23,921£5,085£5,643£167,149
2020-21113£152,863£27,753£5,186£2,219£188,021
2021-22141£171,047£28,582£3,218£5,279£208,126
2022-23145£188,387£26,120£7,932£5,007£227,446
2023-24126£208,497£24,692£5,896£6,235£912£246,232
2024-25109£226,625£24,678£1,385£252,688
2025-2662£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, 2024-25

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£226,625

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent1£13,503
Business rates2£2,758
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage14£2,033
Software & applications15£1,523
Utilities2£1,334
Stationery & printing9£1,304

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Other1£0

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Mileage - car1£738
Congestion charge & toll1£540
Other public transport1£99
Parking1£9

Largest claims, 2024-25

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£226,625£226,625
31 March 2025Office CostsRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£13,503£13,503
9 July 2024Office CostsBusiness ratesCARDIFF COUNCIL EPAY£1,932£1,932
25 March 2025Office CostsUtilitiesElectricity£1,016£1,016
5 March 2025Office CostsEquipment - purchaseOffice furniture£841£841
8 July 2024Office CostsBusiness ratesCARDIFF COUNCIL EPAY£826£826
31 March 2025MP TravelMileage - carAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£738£738
15 May 2024Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES£720£720
31 March 2025MP TravelCongestion charge & tollAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£540£540
25 October 2024Office CostsTraining - staffHIVE SUPPORT LTD£375£375
9 August 2024Office CostsWaste disposal, confidential waste & rubbish collectionCARDIFF COUNCIL EPAY£359£359
27 March 2025Office CostsStationery & printingAMAZON [***] [200011725-9406]£322£322
9 January 2025Office CostsUtilitiesDual Fuel£318£318
30 March 2025Office CostsStationery & printingAMZNMKTPLACE [***] [200011725-8070]£301£301
12 November 2024Office CostsStationery & printingCleaning & Stationery£246£246

Claims refused and money repaid, 2024-25

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £204 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