MPs’ business costs

Mrs Kemi Badenoch

IPSA paid £1,760,275 against 702 published rows for Mrs Kemi Badenoch between 2017-18 and 2025-26 as the member for Saffron Walden CC, then North West Essex CC. 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, 2018-19

70 claims, £200,054 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	£147,292	73.6%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	50	£20,971	10.5%
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.	17	£26,739	13.4%
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	£4,675	2.3%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	1	£378	0.2%

Every year in the register

Mrs Kemi Badenoch’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	Accommodation	Travel	Miscellaneous	Total
2017-18	54	£112,588	£15,397	£19,736	£2,400	—	£150,122
2018-19	70	£147,292	£20,971	£26,739	£4,675	£378	£200,054
2019-20	115	£141,164	£15,408	£28,454	£2,916	—	£187,942
2020-21	84	£154,061	£16,243	£26,228	£635	£660	£197,827
2021-22	97	£172,446	£15,909	£31,815	£3,399	—	£223,569
2022-23	83	£188,492	£11,988	£30,756	£2,304	—	£233,540
2023-24	85	£219,176	£12,927	£32,837	£2,576	—	£267,517
2024-25	70	£228,046	£11,991	£38,169	£1,449	—	£279,655
2025-26	44	£2,245	£10,027	£7,305	—	£474	£20,051

A year in which Mrs Kemi Badenoch 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, 2018-19

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£147,292

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Professional Services	2	£4,193
Furniture Purchase	4	£3,619
Stationery Purchase	19	£3,568
Professional Services: Direct	1	£3,094
Const Office Rent	1	£1,500
Computer HW Purchase	3	£1,232

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	13	£24,985
Council Tax	1	£900
Gas	1	£449
Electricity	2	£405

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£4,675

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Removal Costs - Contingency	1	£378

Largest claims, 2018-19

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 2019	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year	£147,292	£147,292
31 March 2019	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2018-19	£4,675	£4,675
21 March 2019	Office Costs	Professional Services	Annual Rent, Utilities and Sup	£4,153	£4,153
11 May 2018	Office Costs	Professional Services: Direct	PRU	£3,094	£3,094
29 January 2019	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,100	£2,100
19 December 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,100	£2,100
22 November 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,100	£2,100
24 October 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,100	£2,100
25 September 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,100	£2,100
25 August 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,100	£2,100
25 July 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,100	£2,100
29 June 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,100	£2,100
29 May 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,100	£2,100
25 April 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,100	£2,100
1 April 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885

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 Mrs Kemi Badenoch 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 · Mrs Kemi Badenoch’s register of interests and votes · Sources