MPs’ business costs

Matthew Pennycook

IPSA paid £1,770,016 against 412 published rows for Matthew Pennycook between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Greenwich and Woolwich 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, 2018-19

47 claims, £144,140 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	£126,200	87.6%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	46	£17,940	12.4%

Every year in the register

Matthew Pennycook’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	48	£94,523	£14,687	—	£30	—	£109,239
2016-17	37	£142,202	£12,427	—	—	—	£154,629
2017-18	25	£130,393	£10,203	—	—	—	£140,596
2018-19	47	£126,200	£17,940	—	—	—	£144,140
2019-20	43	£159,013	£18,505	—	—	—	£177,518
2020-21	22	£188,479	£8,481	—	—	—	£196,960
2021-22	37	£170,654	£10,676	—	—	—	£181,330
2022-23	46	£207,199	£8,549	£99	—	—	£215,847
2023-24	48	£215,893	£9,184	—	—	—	£225,077
2024-25	46	£200,902	£10,403	—	—	£5,344	£216,649
2025-26	13	—	£8,031	—	—	—	£8,031

A year in which Matthew Pennycook 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	£126,200

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Professional Services	4	£6,920
Professional Services: Direct	1	£4,800
Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting	25	£3,196
Website - Hosting	1	£1,000
Computer SW Purchase	1	£500
Stationery Purchase	6	£484

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	£126,200	£126,200
1 April 2018	Office Costs	Professional Services: Direct	PRS	£4,800	£4,800
29 March 2019	Office Costs	Professional Services	Consultancy (Jan-Mar 2019)	£3,000	£3,000
20 December 2018	Office Costs	Professional Services	Consultancy (Oct-Dec 2018)	£3,000	£3,000
9 October 2018	Office Costs	Website - Hosting	Ongoing website costs	£1,000	£1,000
10 December 2018	Office Costs	Professional Services	Consultancy services	£500	£500
13 April 2018	Office Costs	Computer SW Purchase	Headed Paper and Caseworker.mp	£500	£500
9 October 2018	Office Costs	Professional Services	Short film production	£420	£420
28 February 2019	Office Costs	Advertising	Roving advice surgery notices	£396	£396
23 March 2019	Office Costs	Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting	Jan-Mar '19 surgery venue hire	£390	£390
24 October 2018	Office Costs	Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting	Barnfield Advice Surgery	£325	£325
31 October 2018	Office Costs	Stationery Purchase	Banner	£259	£259
22 February 2019	Office Costs	Parliamentary Accountancy	Tax Return 2018	£234	£234
12 April 2018	Office Costs	Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting	Barnfield Advice Surgeries	£195	£195
16 March 2019	Office Costs	Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting	Residents meeting venue hire	£180	£180

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 Matthew Pennycook 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 · Matthew Pennycook’s register of interests and votes · Sources