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, 2019-20

115 claims, £180,404 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.9£161,04389.3%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.105£19,06910.6%
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.1£2920.2%

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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsTravelStarting up and winding upMiscellaneousTotal
2015-1656£115,641£18,713£4,904£139,259
2016-1780£143,250£24,823£168,073
2017-18101£150,913£22,459£173,372
2018-19120£159,696£24,144£183,841
2019-20115£161,043£19,069£292£180,404
2020-2194£193,038£27,014£158£3,298£223,508
2021-22103£206,459£25,859£89£232,407
2022-23115£151,119£30,682£4,970£186,771
2023-2499£174,799£30,144£39£204,983
2024-25115£213,902£32,918£246,820
2025-2677£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, 2019-20

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£160,514
Volunteer - agreed arrangement costs8£529

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent4£8,000
Stationery & printing57£5,384
Utilities6£2,464
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage11£1,324
Cleaning services9£780
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs4£495

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail1£292

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.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
31 March 2020StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year£160,514£160,514
25 December 2019Office CostsRentConstituency office rent Q4 2019-20£4,000£4,000
29 September 2019Office CostsRentConstituency office rent Q4 2019£2,000£2,000
24 June 2019Office CostsRentConstituency office rent Q3 2019£2,000£2,000
30 January 2020Office CostsUtilitiesElectricity£1,101£1,101
21 January 2020Office CostsUtilitiesElectricity£585£585
7 May 2019Office CostsStationery & printingXMA April 2019£558£558
21 November 2019Office CostsStationery & printingBanner October 2019£557£557
7 May 2019Office CostsStationery & printingXMA April 2019£486£486
7 May 2019Office CostsStationery & printingXMA April 2019£465£465
5 December 2019Office CostsStationery & printingXMA November 2019£381£381
7 May 2019Office CostsStationery & printingXMA April 2019£372£372
5 December 2019Office CostsStationery & printingXMA November 2019£331£331
10 July 2019Office CostsUtilitiesElectricity£326£326
31 March 2020MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2019-20£292£292

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 £860 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 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