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, 2022-23

190 claims, £239,609 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.10£186,46677.8%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.130£24,39010.2%
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.36£17,4137.3%
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.14£11,3404.7%

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, 2022-23

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£169,574
Bought-in services7£13,800
Pooled staffing services1£3,088
Training - staff1£3

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent4£9,371
Stationery & printing28£3,472
Software & applications37£3,332
Equipment - purchase13£3,299
Advertising and contact cards7£1,408
Mobile telephone - contract & usage10£1,120

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent12£13,200
Council tax1£2,263
Utilities11£1,105
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage12£846

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail4£4,824
Mileage - car4£3,229
Taxi3£2,335
Hotel - London1£681
Parking1£203
Subsistence1£70

Largest claims, 2022-23

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 2023StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year£169,574£169,574
22 March 2023StaffingBought-in servicesAdministrative services£6,000£6,000
31 March 2023Staff TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2022-23£4,549£4,549
6 January 2023Office CostsRentOffice rent for constituency office for next 6 months£3,794£3,794
26 July 2022Office CostsRentOffice rent for constituency office for 6 months£3,794£3,794
28 April 2022StaffingPooled staffing servicesPolicy Research Unit (Conservative)£3,088£3,088
13 April 2022AccommodationCouncil taxWWW.WEALDEN.GOV.UK£2,263£2,263
31 March 2023MP TravelTaxiAggregated figure for travel during 2022-23£1,730£1,730
9 August 2022StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£1,500£1,500
2 August 2022StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£1,500£1,500
12 July 2022StaffingBought-in servicesOffice services£1,500£1,500
5 May 2022StaffingBought-in servicesAdministrative services£1,500£1,500
12 April 2022StaffingBought-in servicesOffice services£1,500£1,500
29 June 2022Office CostsEquipment - purchaseComputer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories£1,302£1,302
24 July 2022Office CostsEquipment - purchaseComputer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories£1,249£1,249

Claims refused and money repaid, 2022-23

2 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £190 not paid and £6 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