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, 2022-23

46 claims, £215,847 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	£207,199	96.0%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	44	£8,549	4.0%
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	£99	0.0%

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, 2022-23

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£207,199

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Pooled staffing services	1	£4,200
Equipment - purchase	2	£983
Stationery & printing	6	£876
Software & applications	14	£860
Newspapers, journals, magazines	15	£556
Working From Home Allowance	1	£497

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	1	£99

Largest claims, 2022-23

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 2023	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year	£207,199	£207,199
18 May 2022	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£4,200	£4,200
13 July 2022	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Computer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories	£968	£968
25 May 2022	Office Costs	Software & applications	ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES	£600	£600
31 March 2023	Office Costs	Working From Home Allowance	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2022-23	£497	£497
21 December 2022	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	XMA January 2023	£274	£274
16 December 2022	Office Costs	Bought-in services	Parliamentary accountancy	£246	£246
5 April 2022	Office Costs	Bought-in services	Parliamentary accountancy	£240	£240
6 September 2022	Office Costs	Newspapers, journals, magazines	WWW.INSIDEHOUSING.CO.U	£201	£201
6 November 2022	Office Costs	Newspapers, journals, magazines	ECONOMIST GBP - GBP	£189	£189
21 December 2022	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	XMA January 2023	£183	£183
21 December 2022	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	XMA January 2023	£183	£183
21 December 2022	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	XMA January 2023	£183	£183
31 March 2023	Staff Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£99	£99
17 October 2022	Office Costs	Venue hire, meetings & surgeries	—	£50	£50

Claims refused and money repaid, 2022-23

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £50 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 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