MPs’ business costs

Karin Smyth

IPSA paid £2,193,974 against 1,250 published rows for Karin Smyth between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Bristol South 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 to 2025-26

1,250 claims, £2,193,974 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.	58	£1,711,615	78.0%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	907	£216,057	9.8%
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.	215	£212,629	9.7%
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.	56	£46,364	2.1%
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.	11	£4,267	0.2%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	3	£3,042	0.1%

Every year in the register

Karin Smyth’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	198	£113,254	£18,055	£8,073	£4,727	£2,022	—	£146,131
2016-17	114	£140,398	£15,542	£20,658	£7,476	£2,245	—	£186,318
2017-18	134	£146,466	£15,097	£18,411	£2,550	—	—	£182,524
2018-19	141	£151,660	£23,749	£15,450	£4,192	—	—	£195,051
2019-20	132	£153,985	£19,010	£14,275	£4,336	—	—	£191,606
2020-21	93	£174,124	£23,106	£25,282	£2,057	—	—	£224,569
2021-22	106	£178,721	£25,580	£27,441	£3,589	—	—	£235,331
2022-23	102	£203,462	£24,764	£27,443	£4,986	—	—	£260,655
2023-24	86	£210,170	£27,988	£25,052	£5,301	—	£912	£269,423
2024-25	93	£237,127	£17,542	£27,774	£7,152	—	£2,130	£291,724
2025-26	51	£2,250	£5,622	£2,770	—	—	—	£10,642

A year in which Karin Smyth 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 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	10	£1,652,249
Bought-in services	26	£27,625
Pooled Services: Direct	3	£14,000
Professional Services (Staff.)	7	£8,000
Training - staff	7	£4,986
Pooled staffing services	1	£4,600

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	23	£51,395
Bought-in services	18	£25,390
Const Office Rent	18	£23,267
Pooled staffing services	4	£16,500
IT/Other Equipment Hire	27	£12,854
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	97	£9,977

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	52	£134,200
Accommodation Rent	32	£37,534
Hotel London Area	58	£22,354
Hotel - London	20	£7,675
Council tax	11	£5,245
Utilities	23	£2,917

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	18	£24,097
Aggregated Travel Costs	4	£18,944
Mileage - car	5	£920
Hotel - London	2	£760
Taxi	11	£651
Congestion charge & toll	3	£369

Starting up and winding up

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Other Equipment Purch StartUp	2	£2,089
Comp HW Purch StartUp	2	£672
Office Alterations StartUp	1	£540
Office Consumables StartUp	3	£382
Scanner Purch StartUp	1	£357
Photocopier Purch StartUp	1	£178

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Removals	2	£2,130
IPSA RICS Valuation	1	£912

Largest claims, 2015-16 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	£232,431	£232,431
31 March 2024	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year	£203,970	£203,970
31 March 2023	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year	£196,202	£196,202
31 March 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£169,124	£169,124
31 March 2022	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£168,641	£168,641
31 March 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£152,185	£152,185
31 March 2019	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year	£144,420	£144,420
31 March 2018	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year	£140,866	£140,866
31 March 2017	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year	£135,558	£135,558
31 March 2016	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year	£108,854	£108,854
31 March 2022	Accommodation	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£26,400	£26,400
31 March 2025	Office Costs	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25	£11,377	£11,377
31 March 2017	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2016-17	£7,476	£7,476
18 March 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£6,073	£6,073
31 March 2025	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2024-25	£5,342	£5,342

Claims refused and money repaid, 2015-16 to 2025-26

8 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £742 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 Karin Smyth 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 · Karin Smyth’s register of interests and votes · Sources