MPs’ business costs

Paula Barker

IPSA paid £1,394,852 against 460 published rows for Paula Barker between 2019-20 and 2025-26 as the member for Liverpool, Wavertree BC, then Liverpool Wavertree 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, 2021-22

48 claims, £254,793 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.	1	£188,838	74.1%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	36	£24,504	9.6%
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.	2	£30,602	12.0%
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.	9	£10,849	4.3%

Every year in the register

Paula Barker’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2019-20 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	Total
2019-20	23	£16,485	£6,037	£5,539	£5,535	£33,596
2020-21	29	£157,257	£8,020	£32,840	£5,140	£203,257
2021-22	48	£188,838	£24,504	£30,602	£10,849	£254,793
2022-23	95	£200,737	£23,054	£25,170	£17,172	£266,133
2023-24	89	£216,167	£25,050	£27,710	£31,209	£300,136
2024-25	115	£235,427	£32,106	£31,323	£24,771	£323,627
2025-26	61	—	£9,801	£3,510	—	£13,311

A year in which Paula Barker 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	£188,838

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	1	£10,400
Pooled staffing services	1	£4,200
Equipment - purchase	4	£2,283
Training - staff	2	£1,680
Website hosting and design	1	£1,560
Working From Home Allowance	1	£1,560

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	1	£30,252
Hotel - London	1	£350

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	6	£9,033
Hotel - London	1	£1,550
Taxi	1	£181
Parking	1	£84

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	£188,838	£188,838
31 March 2022	Accommodation	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£30,252	£30,252
31 March 2022	Office Costs	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£10,400	£10,400
31 March 2022	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£6,506	£6,506
27 April 2021	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£4,200	£4,200
31 March 2022	Office Costs	Working From Home Allowance	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£1,560	£1,560
20 December 2021	Office Costs	Website hosting and design	https://www.paulabarkermp.co.uk/contact	£1,560	£1,560
31 March 2022	Staff Travel	Hotel - London	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£1,550	£1,550
31 March 2022	Staff Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£1,496	£1,496
26 March 2021	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Computer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories	£1,481	£1,481
13 April 2021	Office Costs	Training - staff	PCS REAL CLEAR	£840	£840
30 March 2021	Office Costs	Training - staff	PCS REAL CLEAR	£840	£840
20 January 2022	Office Costs	Software & applications	ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES	£600	£600
16 March 2021	Office Costs	Software & applications	ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES	£600	£600
25 March 2021	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Computer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories	£599	£599

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 Paula Barker 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 · Paula Barker’s register of interests and votes · Sources