MPs’ business costs

Joe Powell

IPSA paid £240,576 against 160 published rows for Joe Powell between 2024-25 and 2025-26 as the member for Kensington and Bayswater 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

98 claims, £214,410 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.6£189,34288.3%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.92£25,06811.7%

Every year in the register

Joe Powell’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 costsMiscellaneousTotal
2024-2598£189,342£25,068£214,410
2025-2662£23,136£3,030£26,166

A year in which Joe Powell 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£182,932
Bought-in services5£6,410

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Postage & couriers1£6,890
Rent5£5,582
Pooled staffing services1£3,000
Stationery & printing55£2,649
Bought-in services1£1,720
Software & applications3£1,714

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£182,932£182,932
17 March 2025Office CostsPostage & couriersConstituent communication postage£6,890£6,890
3 October 2024Office CostsPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£3,000£3,000
22 January 2025StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£1,820£1,820
31 March 2025Office CostsBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£1,720£1,720
3 December 2024StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£1,425£1,425
5 March 2025StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£1,388£1,388
17 March 2025Office CostsStationery & printingConstituent communication printing£1,314£1,314
7 February 2025StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£1,206£1,206
16 September 2024Office CostsRentRent paid for constituency office by MP to be reimbursed 01/10 - 31/10£1,150£1,150
15 August 2024Office CostsRentRent paid for constituency office by MP to be reimbursed 1/9 - 30/9£1,150£1,150
15 July 2024Office CostsRentRent paid for constituency office by MP to be reimbursed for 1/8 - 31/8£1,150£1,150
15 October 2024Office CostsRentRent paid for constituency office by MP to be reimbursed 01/11 - 31/11£1,149£1,149
16 August 2024Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES [200011792-374]£1,018£1,018
17 June 2024Office CostsRentRent paid for constituency office by MP to be reimbursed 5th July - 31st July£983£983

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 Joe Powell 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 · Joe Powell’s register of interests and votes · Sources