MPs’ business costs

Kim Johnson

IPSA paid £1,242,467 against 734 published rows for Kim Johnson between 2019-20 and 2025-26 as the member for Liverpool, Riverside BC, then Liverpool Riverside 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, 2025-26

57 claims, £11,531 paid. The headings are IPSA’s own categories grouped; the categories inside each are named on the register page.

CategoryWhat it coversClaimsPaidShare
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.54£9,56983.0%
AccommodationThe 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.3£1,96217.0%

Every year in the register

Kim Johnson’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2019-20 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 costsAccommodationTravelTotal
2019-205£347£1,367£4,070£5,783
2020-2197£126,126£28,953£21,185£4,392£180,657
2021-22104£170,743£21,644£22,200£6,740£221,327
2022-23144£198,543£25,323£23,077£10,736£257,679
2023-24193£214,911£26,151£25,808£12,300£279,170
2024-25134£223,329£21,662£27,228£14,101£286,320
2025-2657£9,569£1,962£11,531

A year in which Kim Johnson 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, 2025-26

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

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Stationery & printing15£2,086
Business rates1£1,747
Software & applications14£1,491
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage12£1,136
Insurance - contents2£774
Bought-in services1£738

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Utilities1£1,135
Council tax1£763
Hotel - UK Not London1£64

Largest claims, 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.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
4 April 2025Office CostsBusiness ratesLIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL£1,747£1,747
1 April 2025AccommodationUtilitiesWater£1,135£1,135
1 April 2025AccommodationCouncil taxAnnual council tax for London accommodation [***][***][***]£763£763
4 February 2026Office CostsBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£738£738
24 January 2025Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES [200011782-318]£604£604
5 December 2025Office CostsStationery & printingPrinting of Pride in Place MP letter and survey - community consultation & I met my MPsticker£474£474
3 December 2025Office CostsPostage & couriersROYAL MAIL GROUP LTD£467£467
21 January 2026Office CostsInsurance - contentsHISCOXME£457£457
1 January 2025Office CostsInsurance - contentsHISCOX [200011782-538]£317£317
2 April 2025Office CostsEquipment - purchaseOther office equipment£260£260
25 April 2025Office CostsWebsite hosting and designSQSP [***]£245£245
17 January 2026Office CostsVenue hire, meetings & surgeries£200£200
26 January 2026Office CostsStationery & printingReprint & folding of 3000 copies of Pride in Place Survey£180£180
27 November 2025Office CostsStationery & printingDesign of Pride in Place MP letter and survey - community consultation & I met my MP sticker£146£146
28 January 2026Office CostsStationery & printingBanner February 2026£139£139

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 Kim Johnson 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 · Kim Johnson’s register of interests and votes · Sources