MPs’ business costs

Mims Davies

IPSA paid £1,918,996 against 1,048 published rows for Mims Davies between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Eastleigh BC, then Mid Sussex CC, then East Grinstead and Uckfield 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

87 claims, £167,347 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	£138,759	82.9%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	65	£11,690	7.0%
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.	19	£14,248	8.5%
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	£2,651	1.6%

Every year in the register

Mims Davies’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	Miscellaneous	Total
2015-16	98	£79,969	£10,599	£16,202	£1,885	£4,377	—	£113,031
2016-17	87	£138,759	£11,690	£14,248	£2,651	—	—	£167,347
2017-18	105	£131,734	£19,098	£15,257	£1,061	—	£200	£167,349
2018-19	110	£133,426	£19,366	£15,681	£1,423	—	—	£169,896
2019-20	128	£113,666	£17,265	£8,833	£3,415	£864	£7,859	£151,901
2020-21	91	£159,218	£28,853	—	£2,078	£14	—	£190,163
2021-22	69	£167,375	£27,339	—	£4,165	—	—	£198,879
2022-23	82	£171,846	£28,700	£3,215	£7,197	—	—	£210,957
2023-24	108	£217,432	£30,875	£3,235	£6,872	—	£930	£259,345
2024-25	106	£240,227	£23,197	£1,628	£9,516	—	—	£274,568
2025-26	64	£3,456	£8,421	£2,849	—	—	£833	£15,559

A year in which Mims Davies 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	£136,098
Pooled Services: Direct	1	£2,661

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Stationery Purchase	19	£3,060
Const Office Rent	12	£1,992
Furniture Purchase	1	£1,737
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	12	£962
Computer SW Purchase	1	£900
Contact Cards	1	£857

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	12	£13,769
Electricity	3	£215
Hotel London Area	1	£124
Water	2	£93
Gas	1	£47

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£2,651

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	£136,098	£136,098
14 April 2016	Staffing	Pooled Services: Direct	PRU	£2,661	£2,661
31 March 2017	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2016-17	£2,651	£2,651
15 March 2017	Office Costs	Furniture Purchase	MARCH PAYMENT CARD	£1,737	£1,737
11 February 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,200	£1,200
11 January 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,200	£1,200
9 December 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,200	£1,200
10 November 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,200	£1,200
11 October 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,200	£1,200
6 September 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,200	£1,200
9 August 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,200	£1,200
12 July 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,200	£1,200
7 June 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,200	£1,200
11 May 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,200	£1,200
28 April 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,200	£1,200

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 Mims Davies 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 · Mims Davies’s register of interests and votes · Sources