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, 2017-18

183 claims, £197,969 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.	35	£149,531	75.5%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	116	£20,449	10.3%
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.	31	£24,382	12.3%
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	£3,607	1.8%

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, 2017-18

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£144,719
Pooled Services: Direct	2	£4,672
Volunteer Agreed Arrang. Costs	14	£48
Public Tr RAIL Volunteer - RT	1	£40
Food & Drink Volunteer	6	£28
Public Tr UND Volunteer	8	£19

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	17	£14,361
Stationery Purchase	16	£1,815
Computer SW Purchase	4	£974
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	58	£655
Const Office Electricity	2	£644
Computer HW Purchase	5	£484

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	14	£22,951
Council Tax	2	£1,049
Electricity	2	£223
Telephone Usage/Rental	11	£209
Service Charges	2	£-50

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£3,607

Largest claims, 2017-18

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 2018	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year	£144,719	£144,719
31 March 2018	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2017-18	£3,607	£3,607
30 June 2017	Staffing	Pooled Services: Direct	PRU	£2,672	£2,672
1 April 2017	Staffing	Pooled Services: Direct	ERG	£2,000	£2,000
26 January 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
21 December 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
24 November 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
29 October 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
29 September 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
29 August 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
27 July 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
27 June 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
25 May 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
25 April 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
1 April 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885

Claims refused and money repaid, 2017-18

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £59 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 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