MPs’ business costs
Peter Kyle
IPSA paid £2,145,896 against 1,047 published rows for Peter Kyle between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Hove BC, then Hove and Portslade 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, 2015-16
59 claims, £133,520 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. | 10 | £106,853 | 80.0% |
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 26 | £19,553 | 14.6% |
| 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. | 1 | £1,298 | 1.0% |
| Starting up and winding up | The one-off costs of opening an office on election and of closing one on leaving. These fall in the years around a general election and are absent from the rest. | 22 | £5,815 | 4.4% |
Every year in the register
Peter Kyle’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 | Starting up and winding up | Miscellaneous | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-16 | 59 | £106,853 | £19,553 | — | £1,298 | £5,815 | — | £133,520 |
| 2016-17 | 80 | £136,814 | £23,450 | — | £1,253 | £338 | — | £161,855 |
| 2017-18 | 64 | £134,071 | £24,150 | £8,486 | £1,412 | — | — | £168,119 |
| 2018-19 | 104 | £142,035 | £25,189 | £15,043 | £1,838 | — | £1,425 | £185,529 |
| 2019-20 | 133 | £149,858 | £26,243 | £14,300 | £2,143 | — | — | £192,544 |
| 2020-21 | 89 | £172,710 | £32,055 | £15,600 | £353 | — | — | £220,719 |
| 2021-22 | 120 | £186,474 | £29,536 | £15,778 | £4,869 | — | — | £236,657 |
| 2022-23 | 172 | £217,681 | £27,870 | £16,200 | £2,302 | — | — | £264,053 |
| 2023-24 | 98 | £233,210 | £30,583 | £16,200 | £1,528 | — | £2,017 | £283,537 |
| 2024-25 | 67 | £202,745 | £32,540 | £23,755 | £1,619 | — | £1,440 | £262,101 |
| 2025-26 | 61 | £21,402 | £14,694 | — | — | — | £1,166 | £37,262 |
A year in which Peter Kyle 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, 2015-16
The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.
Staffing
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll | 1 | £102,772 |
| Professional Services (Staff.) | 5 | £3,982 |
| Public Tr BUS Volunteer | 2 | £52 |
| Food & Drink Volunteer | 2 | £47 |
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Const Office Rent | 3 | £17,360 |
| Stationery Purchase | 12 | £685 |
| Const Office Electricity | 1 | £660 |
| Const Office cleaning | 5 | £428 |
| Television Licence Purchase | 1 | £146 |
| Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental | 1 | £139 |
Travel
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Aggregated Travel Costs | 1 | £1,298 |
Starting up and winding up
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Office Alterations StartUp | 3 | £2,714 |
| Office Furn Purch StartUp | 9 | £1,239 |
| Comp HW Purch StartUp | 3 | £914 |
| Comp SW Purch StartUp | 2 | £447 |
| Recruitment StartUp | 3 | £380 |
| Other Equipment Purch StartUp | 1 | £99 |
Largest claims, 2015-16
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 2016 | Staffing | Payroll | Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year | £102,772 | £102,772 |
| 1 February 2016 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | Cons. Office Rent May-Dec 2015 | £11,423 | £11,423 |
| 23 December 2015 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | 1st quarter payment | £5,500 | £5,500 |
| 25 March 2016 | Start Up | Office Alterations StartUp | Const. office fitting | £1,829 | £1,829 |
| 1 March 2016 | Staffing | Professional Services (Staff.) | legal for constituency office | £1,500 | £1,500 |
| 31 March 2016 | Travel | Aggregated Travel Costs | Aggregated figure for travel during 2015-16 | £1,298 | £1,298 |
| 20 June 2015 | Start Up | Office Furn Purch StartUp | barclaycard 25.6.15 | £715 | £715 |
| 10 August 2015 | Staffing | Professional Services (Staff.) | temporary staff cost | £707 | £707 |
| 31 October 2015 | Office Costs | Const Office Electricity | Electricity Bill | £660 | £660 |
| 28 October 2015 | Staffing | Professional Services (Staff.) | payment card | £630 | £630 |
| 26 January 2016 | Staffing | Professional Services (Staff.) | Professional Services | £600 | £600 |
| 10 August 2015 | Staffing | Professional Services (Staff.) | Temporary staff cost | £545 | £545 |
| 31 July 2015 | Start Up | Office Alterations StartUp | constituency office | £500 | £500 |
| 15 July 2015 | Start Up | Comp HW Purch StartUp | online purchases for office | £478 | £478 |
| 18 March 2016 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | — | £437 | £437 |
Claims refused and money repaid, 2015-16
5 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £1,098 not paid and £153 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 Peter Kyle 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 · Peter Kyle’s register of interests and votes · Sources