MPs’ business costs

Naz Shah

IPSA paid £2,349,157 against 739 published rows for Naz Shah between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Bradford West BC. 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, 2020-21

50 claims, £236,489 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.1£173,91873.5%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.26£20,3398.6%
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.17£37,61015.9%
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.6£4,6222.0%

Every year in the register

Naz Shah’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
2015-1664£94,955£9,810£24,177£7,809£2,195£138,947
2016-1785£136,507£18,725£28,070£8,819£192,121
2017-1860£150,882£21,116£28,350£4,718£205,066
2018-1974£138,290£14,462£37,648£18,114£208,513
2019-20109£138,945£26,537£38,607£14,296£218,385
2020-2150£173,918£20,339£37,610£4,622£236,489
2021-2243£176,431£19,698£39,143£6,591£241,862
2022-2386£193,435£30,915£38,235£7,748£960£271,293
2023-2486£228,849£31,177£37,855£10,689£310£308,879
2024-2552£231,152£24,422£40,314£16,562£312,451
2025-2630£2,980£7,156£4,665£350£15,151

A year in which Naz Shah 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, 2020-21

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£173,918

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent11£7,260
Pooled staffing services1£3,600
Bought-in services1£3,000
Working From Home Allowance1£2,417
Software & applications3£1,253
Stationery & printing3£1,215

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent12£34,658
Council tax1£1,627
Utilities3£1,326
MP Budget Overspend1£0

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Vehicle hire cost2£3,481
Rail3£588
Mileage - car1£554

Largest claims, 2020-21

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 2021StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year£173,918£173,918
28 January 2021Office CostsPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£3,600£3,600
31 March 2021MP TravelVehicle hire costAggregated figure for travel during 2020-21£3,134£3,134
27 April 2020Office CostsBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£3,000£3,000
10 March 2021AccommodationRentRent£2,900£2,900
9 February 2021AccommodationRentRent£2,887£2,887
6 January 2021AccommodationRentRent£2,887£2,887
10 December 2020AccommodationRentRent£2,887£2,887
8 November 2020AccommodationRentRent£2,887£2,887
6 October 2020AccommodationRentRent£2,887£2,887
9 September 2020AccommodationRentRent£2,887£2,887
8 August 2020AccommodationRentLondon Home Rent£2,887£2,887
9 July 2020AccommodationRentLondon Home Rent£2,887£2,887
8 June 2020AccommodationRentLondon Home Rent£2,887£2,887
10 May 2020AccommodationRentLondon Home Rent£2,887£2,887

Claims refused and money repaid, 2020-21

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £0 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 Naz Shah 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 · Naz Shah’s register of interests and votes · Sources