MPs’ business costs
Neil Coyle
IPSA paid £1,967,824 against 1,075 published rows for Neil Coyle between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark 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, 2015-16
56 claims, £139,259 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 | £115,641 | 83.0% |
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 52 | £18,713 | 13.4% |
| 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. | 2 | £4,904 | 3.5% |
Every year in the register
Neil Coyle’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 | Travel | Starting up and winding up | Miscellaneous | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-16 | 56 | £115,641 | £18,713 | — | £4,904 | — | £139,259 |
| 2016-17 | 80 | £143,250 | £24,823 | — | — | — | £168,073 |
| 2017-18 | 101 | £150,913 | £22,459 | — | — | — | £173,372 |
| 2018-19 | 120 | £159,696 | £24,144 | — | — | — | £183,841 |
| 2019-20 | 115 | £161,043 | £19,069 | £292 | — | — | £180,404 |
| 2020-21 | 94 | £193,038 | £27,014 | £158 | — | £3,298 | £223,508 |
| 2021-22 | 103 | £206,459 | £25,859 | £89 | — | — | £232,407 |
| 2022-23 | 115 | £151,119 | £30,682 | — | — | £4,970 | £186,771 |
| 2023-24 | 99 | £174,799 | £30,144 | £39 | — | — | £204,983 |
| 2024-25 | 115 | £213,902 | £32,918 | — | — | — | £246,820 |
| 2025-26 | 77 | £1,125 | £26,949 | — | — | £314 | £28,388 |
A year in which Neil Coyle 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, 2015-16
The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.
Staffing
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll | 1 | £111,641 |
| Pooled Services: Direct | 1 | £4,000 |
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Const Office repairs | 3 | £10,320 |
| Const Office Rent | 1 | £2,524 |
| Stationery Purchase | 26 | £2,347 |
| Computer HW Purchase | 4 | £1,147 |
| Install/Maint Office Equip. | 1 | £628 |
| Other | 8 | £586 |
Starting up and winding up
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Office Alterations StartUp | 2 | £4,904 |
Largest claims, 2015-16
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 2016 | Staffing | Payroll | Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year | £111,641 | £111,641 |
| 11 January 2016 | Office Costs | Const Office repairs | Office Building works | £5,605 | £5,605 |
| 11 February 2016 | Office Costs | Const Office repairs | Office Repairs | £4,223 | £4,223 |
| 30 June 2015 | Staffing | Pooled Services: Direct | PRS | £4,000 | £4,000 |
| 1 February 2016 | Start Up | Office Alterations StartUp | Office Cost Repairs | £3,503 | £3,503 |
| 13 November 2015 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | Constituency Office rent | £2,524 | £2,524 |
| 21 December 2015 | Start Up | Office Alterations StartUp | Office Repairs deposit | £1,401 | £1,401 |
| 19 February 2016 | Office Costs | Computer HW Purchase | Feb payment card | £778 | £778 |
| 22 February 2016 | Office Costs | Install/Maint Office Equip. | Feb Office costs | £628 | £628 |
| 15 March 2016 | Office Costs | Stationery Purchase | Banner | £508 | £508 |
| 23 February 2016 | Office Costs | Const Office repairs | signwriting | £492 | £492 |
| 25 November 2015 | Office Costs | Legal Exp/Emp Practice Insur. | Constituency Office rent | £375 | £375 |
| 1 October 2015 | Office Costs | Software Purchase | September Office Costs 15 | £350 | £350 |
| 7 March 2016 | Office Costs | Computer HW Purchase | constituency printer | £317 | £317 |
| 4 November 2015 | Office Costs | Other | November Card 2015 | £305 | £305 |
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 Neil Coyle 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 · Neil Coyle’s register of interests and votes · Sources