MPs’ business costs

Julia Lopez

IPSA paid £1,261,857 against 315 published rows for Julia Lopez between 2017-18 and 2025-26 as the member for Hornchurch and Upminster 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, 2017-18 to 2025-26

315 claims, £1,261,857 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.	13	£1,100,866	87.2%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	298	£160,338	12.7%
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.	3	£575	0.0%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	1	£78	0.0%

Every year in the register

Julia Lopez’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2017-18 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	Travel	Miscellaneous	Total
2017-18	18	£56,470	£2,786	£70	—	£59,326
2018-19	39	£99,438	£20,717	£447	£78	£120,680
2019-20	38	£129,590	£18,292	£59	—	£147,940
2020-21	34	£151,068	£17,004	—	—	£168,072
2021-22	29	£150,269	£22,599	—	—	£172,868
2022-23	47	£147,207	£24,072	—	—	£171,279
2023-24	50	£165,354	£24,952	—	—	£190,306
2024-25	45	£201,469	£26,964	—	—	£228,433
2025-26	15	—	£2,954	—	—	£2,954

A year in which Julia Lopez 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, 2017-18 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	8	£1,087,197
Pooled staffing services	4	£11,501
Pooled Services: Direct	1	£2,168

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	48	£104,675
Const Office Rent	8	£9,403
Pooled staffing services	3	£6,676
Software & applications	52	£6,278
Computer HW Purchase	2	£4,579
Mobile telephone - contract & usage	68	£3,868

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	2	£517
Rail	1	£59

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Removal Costs - Contingency	1	£78

Largest claims, 2017-18 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	£196,206	£196,206
31 March 2024	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year	£162,166	£162,166
31 March 2022	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£150,269	£150,269
31 March 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£148,018	£148,018
31 March 2023	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year	£147,207	£147,207
31 March 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£129,590	£129,590
31 March 2019	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year	£99,438	£99,438
31 March 2018	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year	£54,302	£54,302
31 March 2025	Office Costs	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25	£20,742	£20,742
31 March 2022	Office Costs	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£16,974	£16,974
29 August 2018	Office Costs	Computer HW Purchase	Reconciliation for Barclaycard	£4,514	£4,514
22 April 2024	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Policy Research Unit (Conservative)	£3,548	£3,548
18 April 2023	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Policy Research Unit (Conservative)	£3,188	£3,188
28 April 2022	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Policy Research Unit (Conservative)	£3,088	£3,088
27 May 2020	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Policy Research Unit (Conservative)	£3,050	£3,050

Claims refused and money repaid, 2017-18 to 2025-26

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £32 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 Julia Lopez 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 · Julia Lopez’s register of interests and votes · Sources