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, 2025-26

54 claims, £19,155 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.11£9,81751.2%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.37£7,47839.0%
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.6£1,8609.7%

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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelStarting up and winding upTotal
2015-1692£72,500£14,128£14,021£2,345£893£103,888
2016-17137£136,596£22,626£24,679£3,414£2,301£189,617
2017-18183£149,531£20,449£24,382£3,607£197,969
2018-19176£141,634£20,555£23,955£5,924£192,068
2019-20180£154,589£17,353£23,342£4,918£200,202
2020-21171£163,555£18,477£22,643£2,935£207,611
2021-22148£170,607£20,689£24,222£5,180£220,698
2022-23155£165,376£17,238£24,434£5,256£212,303
2023-24166£182,232£22,279£25,819£6,911£237,241
2024-25119£224,049£19,928£26,200£7,515£277,692
2025-2654£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, 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Bought-in services11£9,817

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Software & applications2£1,651
Stationery & printing5£1,319
Insurance - buildings2£1,178
Postage & couriers2£753
Equipment - purchase3£691
Mobile telephone - contract & usage9£503

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Utilities5£1,097
Council tax1£763

Largest claims, 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
21 August 2025StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£2,584£2,584
6 May 2025Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES£1,476£1,476
18 November 2025StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£906£906
25 October 2025StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£889£889
3 April 2025AccommodationUtilitiesWater£792£792
19 August 2025StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£774£774
1 April 2025AccommodationCouncil taxCouncil tax bill for Westminister City Council 2025£763£763
23 March 2026StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£695£695
20 February 2026StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£695£695
16 January 2026StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£695£695
12 December 2025StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£695£695
19 April 2024StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£695£695
31 March 2025Office CostsInsurance - buildingsInsurance for constituency office£625£625
28 September 2025Office CostsStationery & printingPHILATELINK LTD£596£596
18 September 2025StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£595£595

Claims refused and money repaid, 2025-26

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £2,000 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

Mike Wood: business costs paid by IPSA, 2015-16 to 2025-26 | Civometry