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, 2018-19

176 claims, £192,068 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	£141,634	73.7%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	147	£20,555	10.7%
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.	26	£23,955	12.5%
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	£5,924	3.1%

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, 2018-19

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£138,534
Pooled Services: Direct	1	£3,100

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	11	£11,917
Computer HW Purchase	4	£2,596
Stationery Purchase	26	£1,734
Const Office Electricity	4	£1,232
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	80	£1,024
Computer SW Purchase	2	£937

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	13	£22,165
Water	2	£799
Council Tax	1	£565
Electricity	2	£273
Telephone Usage/Rental	8	£153

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£5,924

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	£138,534	£138,534
31 March 2019	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2018-19	£5,924	£5,924
22 August 2018	Staffing	Pooled Services: Direct	PRU	£3,100	£3,100
29 January 2019	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
19 December 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
22 November 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
24 October 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
25 September 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
25 August 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
25 July 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
29 June 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
29 May 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
25 April 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,885	£1,885
26 February 2019	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,699	£1,699
1 April 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,430	£1,430

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