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, 2023-24

119 claims, £245,131 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£210,07285.7%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.117£34,98914.3%
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.1£690.0%

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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsTravelStarting up and winding upMiscellaneousTotal
2015-16186£119,109£23,892£1,166£5,961£875£151,003
2016-17103£148,145£19,332£167,478
2017-18106£145,452£26,025£594£172,071
2018-1989£157,047£24,502£193£300£182,041
2019-20113£152,174£29,959£211£182,344
2020-2175£170,494£21,709£192,203
2021-2284£184,666£30,724£112£215,503
2022-2380£193,052£31,159£224,211
2023-24119£210,072£34,989£69£245,131
2024-2577£202,695£35,747£9,456£247,897
2025-2676£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, 2023-24

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£210,072

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent4£7,200
Cleaning services11£5,949
Stationery & printing51£5,912
Equipment - purchase8£5,286
Translation services - other languages3£3,037
Service charge & ground Rent3£1,717

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Travel Associated Cost1£69

Largest claims, 2023-24

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 2024StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year£210,072£210,072
16 September 2023Office CostsEquipment - purchaseComputer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories£2,699£2,699
26 March 2024Office CostsRent£1,800£1,800
26 December 2023Office CostsRent£1,800£1,800
26 September 2023Office CostsRent£1,800£1,800
27 June 2023Office CostsRent£1,800£1,800
18 May 2023Office CostsEquipment - purchaseComputer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories£1,799£1,799
20 December 2023Office CostsTranslation services - other languagesOct-Nov Translations£1,059£1,059
14 August 2023Office CostsTraining - MPMP training£1,014£1,014
14 August 2023Office CostsTranslation services - other languagestranslations£1,007£1,007
18 May 2023Office CostsTranslation services - other languagestranslations£971£971
19 July 2023Office CostsStationery & printingAMZNMKTPLACE£884£884
17 August 2023Office CostsStationery & printingAMAZON.CO.UK [***]£864£864
29 March 2023Office CostsService charge & ground RentASHDOWN PHILLIPS &£783£783
23 May 2023Office CostsStationery & printingAMAZON.CO.UK [***]£769£769

Claims refused and money repaid, 2023-24

2 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £1,140 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