MPs’ business costs

Maya Ellis

IPSA paid £267,203 against 232 published rows for Maya Ellis between 2024-25 and 2025-26 as the member for Ribble Valley 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, 2024-25 to 2025-26

232 claims, £267,203 paid. The headings are IPSA’s own categories grouped; the categories inside each are named on the register page.

CategoryWhat it coversClaimsPaidShare
StaffingThe 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.17£182,71168.4%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.170£41,24915.4%
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.28£24,8759.3%
TravelJourneys 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.14£17,8946.7%
MiscellaneousClaims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.3£4740.2%

Every year in the register

Maya Ellis’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2024-25 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 costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2024-25149£161,123£29,511£21,918£17,894£474£230,920
2025-2683£21,588£11,738£2,957£36,283

A year in which Maya Ellis 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, 2024-25 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£152,167
Bought-in services8£24,870
Pooled staffing services1£3,000
Training - staff6£2,568
Working From Home Allowance1£107

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Equipment - purchase23£10,068
Stationery & printing55£6,457
Service charge & ground Rent18£6,198
Rent7£4,720
Software & applications5£3,769
Postage & couriers1£1,854

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent8£20,000
Council tax5£2,518
Utilities10£1,529
Hotel - London2£802
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage3£25

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail4£10,325
Hotel - London2£4,056
Parking1£1,438
Hotel - UK Not London1£1,343
Subsistence2£358
Mileage - car2£358

Miscellaneous

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Removals3£474

Largest claims, 2024-25 to 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
31 March 2025StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year£152,167£152,167
31 March 2025MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£8,173£8,173
30 May 2025StaffingBought-in servicesComms & Media£4,800£4,800
1 March 2025StaffingBought-in servicesComms & Media£4,800£4,800
21 February 2025Office CostsEquipment - purchaseOther office equipment£4,566£4,566
1 May 2025StaffingBought-in servicesComms & Media£3,900£3,900
3 October 2024StaffingPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£3,000£3,000
31 March 2025Staff TravelHotel - LondonAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£2,654£2,654
6 October 2025StaffingBought-in servicesComms & Media£2,580£2,580
31 August 2025StaffingBought-in servicesComms & Media£2,580£2,580
23 July 2025StaffingBought-in servicesComms & Media£2,580£2,580
18 June 2025StaffingBought-in servicesComms & Media£2,580£2,580
4 March 2025AccommodationRent£2,500£2,500
4 February 2025AccommodationRent£2,500£2,500
6 January 2025AccommodationRent£2,500£2,500

Claims refused and money repaid, 2024-25 to 2025-26

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £407 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 Maya Ellis 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 · Maya Ellis’s register of interests and votes · Sources