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, 2021-22

205 claims, £236,199 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.	15	£183,277	77.6%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	144	£25,971	11.0%
Accommodation	The 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.	32	£19,756	8.4%
Travel	Journeys 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.	14	£7,197	3.0%

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.

Year	Claims	Staffing	Office costs	Accommodation	Travel	Miscellaneous	Total
2015-16	68	£100,506	£9,571	£12,564	£1,240	—	£123,882
2016-17	95	£135,887	£10,612	£14,393	£4,277	—	£165,170
2017-18	110	£114,149	£14,744	£15,501	£3,094	£785	£148,273
2018-19	100	£133,594	£18,129	£9,622	£3,353	£834	£165,532
2019-20	130	£137,399	£26,515	£15,242	£2,206	—	£181,362
2020-21	185	£177,945	£33,442	£14,337	£2,764	—	£228,488
2021-22	205	£183,277	£25,971	£19,756	£7,197	—	£236,199
2022-23	190	£186,466	£24,390	£17,413	£11,340	—	£239,609
2023-24	195	£185,774	£30,867	£17,759	£7,846	—	£242,246
2024-25	195	£221,336	£26,824	£26,983	£7,637	£3,834	£286,615
2025-26	82	£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, 2021-22

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£158,237
Bought-in services	11	£21,602
Pooled staffing services	1	£2,988
Training - staff	2	£450

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	1	£10,933
Stationery & printing	51	£4,799
Equipment - purchase	15	£2,626
Software & applications	37	£2,610
Working From Home Allowance	1	£1,318
Mobile telephone - contract & usage	12	£1,190

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	1	£12,900
Council tax	8	£4,941
Utilities	12	£1,343
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	9	£470
Landline phone & internet - installation & equipment purchase	2	£101

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Mileage - car	6	£3,463
Rail	4	£2,053
Taxi	2	£1,488
Air travel	1	£189
Parking	1	£4

Largest claims, 2021-22

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 2022	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£158,237	£158,237
31 March 2022	Accommodation	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£12,900	£12,900
31 March 2022	Office Costs	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£10,933	£10,933
5 November 2021	Staffing	Bought-in services	Administrative services	£4,500	£4,500
31 May 2021	Staffing	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£3,000	£3,000
23 April 2021	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Policy Research Unit (Conservative)	£2,988	£2,988
5 May 2021	Staffing	Bought-in services	Office services	£2,500	£2,500
6 April 2021	Staffing	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£2,500	£2,500
31 March 2022	Staff Travel	Mileage - car	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£1,520	£1,520
31 March 2022	Staff Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£1,506	£1,506
3 March 2022	Staffing	Bought-in services	Administrative services	£1,500	£1,500
2 February 2022	Staffing	Bought-in services	Administrative services	£1,500	£1,500
6 January 2022	Staffing	Bought-in services	Administrative services	£1,500	£1,500
6 December 2021	Staffing	Bought-in services	Administrative services	£1,500	£1,500
3 August 2021	Staffing	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£1,500	£1,500

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