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, 2019-20

128 claims, £151,901 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.	5	£113,666	74.8%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	81	£17,265	11.4%
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.	18	£8,833	5.8%
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.	10	£3,415	2.2%
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.	8	£864	0.6%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	6	£7,859	5.2%

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, 2019-20

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	2	£108,913
Pooled staffing services	1	£3,133
Bought-in services	2	£1,620

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	6	£10,918
Software & applications	3	£1,800
Stationery & printing	24	£1,182
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	8	£769
Utilities	14	£768
Insurance - buildings	5	£444

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	8	£8,400
Utilities	10	£433

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	4	£2,991
Mileage - car	2	£368
Railcard	1	£30
Congestion charge & toll	2	£21
Parking	1	£4

Starting up and winding up

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Waste disposal, confidential waste & rubbish collection	2	£381
Bought-in services	1	£300
Utilities	2	£117
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs	1	£36
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	1	£22
Service charge & ground Rent	1	£8

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£6,666
Removals	2	£1,050
Utilities	2	£77
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	1	£66

Largest claims, 2019-20

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 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£81,824	£81,824
31 March 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£27,089	£27,089
31 March 2020	Miscellaneous	Payroll	Other payroll costs for the 2019-20 financial year	£6,666	£6,666
15 May 2019	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Policy Research Unit (Conservative)	£3,133	£3,133
1 April 2020	Office Costs	Rent	—	£2,520	£2,520
2 January 2020	Office Costs	Rent	—	£2,025	£2,025
2 October 2019	Office Costs	Rent	Direct rental payment	£2,025	£2,025
25 July 2019	Office Costs	Rent	Direct rental payment	£2,025	£2,025
31 March 2020	Staff Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2019-20	£1,612	£1,612
15 November 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,200	£1,200
17 October 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,200	£1,200
18 September 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,200	£1,200
16 August 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,200	£1,200
17 July 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,200	£1,200
19 June 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,200	£1,200

Claims refused and money repaid, 2019-20

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