MPs’ business costs

Mike Wood

IPSA paid £2,058,445 against 1,581 published rows for Mike Wood between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Dudley South BC, then Kingswinford and South Staffordshire 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, 2016-17

137 claims, £189,617 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.	2	£136,596	72.0%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	97	£22,626	11.9%
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.	35	£24,679	13.0%
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	£3,414	1.8%
Starting up and winding up	The one-off costs of opening an office on election and of closing one on leaving. These fall in the years around a general election and are absent from the rest.	2	£2,301	1.2%

Every year in the register

Mike Wood’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	Accommodation	Travel	Starting up and winding up	Total
2015-16	92	£72,500	£14,128	£14,021	£2,345	£893	£103,888
2016-17	137	£136,596	£22,626	£24,679	£3,414	£2,301	£189,617
2017-18	183	£149,531	£20,449	£24,382	£3,607	—	£197,969
2018-19	176	£141,634	£20,555	£23,955	£5,924	—	£192,068
2019-20	180	£154,589	£17,353	£23,342	£4,918	—	£200,202
2020-21	171	£163,555	£18,477	£22,643	£2,935	—	£207,611
2021-22	148	£170,607	£20,689	£24,222	£5,180	—	£220,698
2022-23	155	£165,376	£17,238	£24,434	£5,256	—	£212,303
2023-24	166	£182,232	£22,279	£25,819	£6,911	—	£237,241
2024-25	119	£224,049	£19,928	£26,200	£7,515	—	£277,692
2025-26	54	£9,817	£7,478	£1,860	—	—	£19,155

A year in which Mike Wood 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, 2016-17

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£133,925
Pooled Services: Direct	1	£2,671

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	13	£15,616
Stationery Purchase	10	£1,628
Const Office Electricity	3	£1,093
Postage Purchase	2	£854
Furniture Purchase	6	£790
Other Equip Purchase	4	£692

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	13	£22,620
Water	3	£851
Council Tax	2	£621
Electricity	3	£277
Telephone Usage/Rental	12	£225
Gas	2	£85

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£3,414

Starting up and winding up

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Office Furn Purch StartUp	1	£1,485
Office Alterations StartUp	1	£816

Largest claims, 2016-17

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 2017	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year	£133,925	£133,925
31 March 2017	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2016-17	£3,414	£3,414
29 April 2016	Staffing	Pooled Services: Direct	PRU	£2,671	£2,671
25 January 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
20 December 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
25 November 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
26 October 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
27 September 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
24 August 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
29 July 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
29 June 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
24 May 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
27 April 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
1 April 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
24 February 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,823	£1,823

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 Mike Wood 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 · Mike Wood’s register of interests and votes · Sources