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, 2023-24

108 claims, £259,345 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.3£217,43283.8%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.79£30,87511.9%
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.16£3,2351.2%
TravelJourneys 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.8£6,8722.6%
MiscellaneousClaims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.2£9300.4%

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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelStarting up and winding upMiscellaneousTotal
2015-1698£79,969£10,599£16,202£1,885£4,377£113,031
2016-1787£138,759£11,690£14,248£2,651£167,347
2017-18105£131,734£19,098£15,257£1,061£200£167,349
2018-19110£133,426£19,366£15,681£1,423£169,896
2019-20128£113,666£17,265£8,833£3,415£864£7,859£151,901
2020-2191£159,218£28,853£2,078£14£190,163
2021-2269£167,375£27,339£4,165£198,879
2022-2382£171,846£28,700£3,215£7,197£210,957
2023-24108£217,432£30,875£3,235£6,872£930£259,345
2024-25106£240,227£23,197£1,628£9,516£274,568
2025-2664£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, 2023-24

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£211,364
Pooled staffing services1£3,188
Bought-in services1£2,880

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent15£16,655
Service charge & ground Rent4£2,766
Equipment - purchase8£2,474
Utilities9£2,354
Stationery & printing8£1,839
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs6£1,583

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Hotel - London16£3,235

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail3£5,986
Mileage - car1£651
Parking2£160
Congestion charge & toll1£45
Railcard1£30

Miscellaneous

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Removals2£930

Largest claims, 2023-24

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
31 March 2024StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year£211,364£211,364
3 October 2023Office CostsRent£4,995£4,995
4 July 2023Office CostsRent£4,995£4,995
4 April 2023Office CostsRent[200008726-375]£4,995£4,995
31 March 2024MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2023-24£4,946£4,946
25 April 2023StaffingPooled staffing servicesPolicy Research Unit (Conservative)£3,188£3,188
1 March 2024StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£2,880£2,880
21 February 2024Office CostsEquipment - purchaseComputer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories£1,871£1,871
27 September 2023Office CostsRent[***] 1/10/23 - 31/10/23£1,665£1,665
14 March 2024Office CostsRent£1,000£1,000
15 February 2024Office CostsRent£1,000£1,000
16 January 2024Office CostsRent£1,000£1,000
14 December 2023Office CostsRent£1,000£1,000
13 November 2023Office CostsRentFirst month´s rent for constituency office£1,000£1,000
25 September 2023Office CostsMaintenance, Redecorations & RepairsAnnual servicing and repairs to air conditioning units at constituency office£976£976

Claims refused and money repaid, 2023-24

7 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £2,147 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