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, 2020-21

84 claims, £197,827 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.	6	£154,061	77.9%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	53	£16,243	8.2%
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.	19	£26,228	13.3%
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.	4	£635	0.3%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	2	£660	0.3%

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, 2020-21

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£152,018
Bought-in services	4	£1,604
Training - staff	1	£439

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Bought-in services	7	£4,910
Pooled staffing services	1	£3,050
Rent	4	£2,010
Advertising and contact cards	5	£1,320
Working From Home Allowance	1	£1,251
Training - staff	2	£1,020

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	10	£21,700
Council tax	3	£2,450
Utilities	4	£1,700
Moving Fees	1	£378
MP Budget Overspend	1	£0

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Mileage - car	1	£342
Taxi	2	£217
Rail	1	£76

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Removals	2	£660

Largest claims, 2020-21

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 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£152,018	£152,018
27 May 2020	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Policy Research Unit (Conservative)	£3,050	£3,050
2 March 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,500	£2,500
2 February 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,500	£2,500
6 January 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,500	£2,500
1 December 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,500	£2,500
1 November 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,500	£2,500
18 October 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,500	£2,500
10 September 2020	Accommodation	Rent	Monthly rent Sept 2020	£2,500	£2,500
3 June 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,100	£2,100
6 May 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,100	£2,100
1 November 2020	Accommodation	Council tax	Council Tax 10-9-31-03	£1,977	£1,977
31 March 2021	Office Costs	Working From Home Allowance	Aggregated figure for 2020-21	£1,251	£1,251
28 January 2021	Office Costs	Bought-in services	Administrative services	£1,118	£1,118
8 April 2020	Office Costs	Bought-in services	Administrative services	£1,075	£1,075

Claims refused and money repaid, 2020-21

3 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £3,357 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 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