MPs’ business costs

Ms Nusrat Ghani

IPSA paid £2,051,733 against 1,555 published rows for Ms Nusrat Ghani between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Wealden CC, then Sussex Weald 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, 2016-17

95 claims, £165,170 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.5£135,88782.3%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.64£10,6126.4%
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.25£14,3938.7%
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£4,2772.6%

Every year in the register

Ms Nusrat Ghani’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 costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2015-1668£100,506£9,571£12,564£1,240£123,882
2016-1795£135,887£10,612£14,393£4,277£165,170
2017-18110£114,149£14,744£15,501£3,094£785£148,273
2018-19100£133,594£18,129£9,622£3,353£834£165,532
2019-20130£137,399£26,515£15,242£2,206£181,362
2020-21185£177,945£33,442£14,337£2,764£228,488
2021-22205£183,277£25,971£19,756£7,197£236,199
2022-23190£186,466£24,390£17,413£11,340£239,609
2023-24195£185,774£30,867£17,759£7,846£242,246
2024-25195£221,336£26,824£26,983£7,637£3,834£286,615
2025-2682£900£17,466£5,938£10,053£34,357

A year in which Ms Nusrat Ghani 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, 2016-17

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£135,647
Public Tr RAIL Volunteer - RT4£241

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Stationery Purchase25£2,975
Professional Services: Direct1£2,704
Contact Cards2£1,440
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental14£1,221
Computer SW Purchase1£900
Postage Purchase6£432

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Accommodation Rent13£11,650
Council Tax2£1,332
Approved Security Measures1£623
Internet1£446
Electricity5£262
Other Fuel2£72

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Aggregated Travel Costs1£4,277

Largest claims, 2016-17

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 2017StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year£135,647£135,647
31 March 2017TravelAggregated Travel CostsAggregated figure for travel during 2016-17£4,277£4,277
25 May 2016Office CostsProfessional Services: DirectPRU£2,704£2,704
24 February 2017AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,000£1,000
25 January 2017AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,000£1,000
20 December 2016AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,000£1,000
25 November 2016AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,000£1,000
19 April 2016Office CostsContact CardsApril payment card£1,000£1,000
26 October 2016AccommodationAccommodation Rent£950£950
27 September 2016AccommodationAccommodation Rent£950£950
24 August 2016AccommodationAccommodation Rent£950£950
29 July 2016AccommodationAccommodation Rent£950£950
29 June 2016AccommodationAccommodation Rent£950£950
24 May 2016AccommodationAccommodation Rent£950£950
27 April 2016AccommodationAccommodation Rent£950£950

Claims refused and money repaid, 2016-17

4 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £91 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 Ms Nusrat Ghani 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 · Ms Nusrat Ghani’s register of interests and votes · Sources