MPs’ business costs

Kate Osamor

IPSA paid £2,003,651 against 1,108 published rows for Kate Osamor between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Edmonton BC, then Edmonton and Winchmore Hill 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, 2019-20

113 claims, £182,344 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.	1	£152,174	83.5%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	111	£29,959	16.4%
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.	1	£211	0.1%

Every year in the register

Kate Osamor’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	Travel	Starting up and winding up	Miscellaneous	Total
2015-16	186	£119,109	£23,892	£1,166	£5,961	£875	£151,003
2016-17	103	£148,145	£19,332	—	—	—	£167,478
2017-18	106	£145,452	£26,025	£594	—	—	£172,071
2018-19	89	£157,047	£24,502	£193	—	£300	£182,041
2019-20	113	£152,174	£29,959	£211	—	—	£182,344
2020-21	75	£170,494	£21,709	—	—	—	£192,203
2021-22	84	£184,666	£30,724	£112	—	—	£215,503
2022-23	80	£193,052	£31,159	—	—	—	£224,211
2023-24	119	£210,072	£34,989	£69	—	—	£245,131
2024-25	77	£202,695	£35,747	—	—	£9,456	£247,897
2025-26	76	£5,311	£18,459	—	—	—	£23,770

A year in which Kate Osamor 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, 2019-20

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£152,174

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	7	£9,244
Equipment - hire	7	£8,518
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs	11	£2,546
Stationery & printing	15	£2,104
Utilities	12	£1,803
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	13	£1,622

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Taxi	1	£211

Largest claims, 2019-20

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 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£152,174	£152,174
16 April 2019	Office Costs	Equipment - hire	Printer, photocopier & scanner	£2,474	£2,474
16 April 2019	Office Costs	Equipment - hire	Printer, photocopier & scanner	£2,474	£2,474
29 May 2019	Office Costs	Rent	ASHDOWN PHILLIPS &	£1,633	£1,633
1 April 2020	Office Costs	Rent	—	£1,590	£1,590
2 January 2020	Office Costs	Rent	—	£1,590	£1,590
2 October 2019	Office Costs	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,590	£1,590
31 July 2019	Office Costs	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,590	£1,590
29 September 2019	Office Costs	Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs	PAYPAL MGREAVES173	£1,462	£1,462
5 April 2019	Office Costs	Equipment - hire	Printer, photocopier & scanner	£1,140	£1,140
5 April 2019	Office Costs	Equipment - hire	Printer, photocopier & scanner	£1,140	£1,140
5 April 2019	Office Costs	Equipment - hire	Printer, photocopier & scanner	£1,140	£1,140
2 April 2019	Office Costs	Rent	ASHDOWN PHILLIPS &	£918	£918
2 April 2019	Office Costs	Recruitment Services &Costs	WWW.LASA.ORG.UK	£600	£600
2 April 2019	Office Costs	Venue hire, meetings & surgeries	—	£537	£537

Claims refused and money repaid, 2019-20

2 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £270 not paid and £0 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 Kate Osamor 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 · Kate Osamor’s register of interests and votes · Sources