MPs’ business costs

Rachel Reeves

IPSA paid £3,164,389 against 3,643 published rows for Rachel Reeves between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Leeds West BC, then Leeds West and Pudsey 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, 2010-11 to 2025-26

3,643 claims, £3,164,389 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.1,296£2,452,91477.5%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.1,733£364,37811.5%
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.515£217,1236.9%
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.89£121,3813.8%
MiscellaneousClaims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.10£8,5910.3%

Every year in the register

Rachel Reeves’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2010-11 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
2010-11176£93,020£14,878£11,136£5,786£1,237£126,058
2011-12339£114,234£20,700£15,616£3,815£154,365
2012-13218£138,269£22,635£13,936£7,541£182,381
2013-14167£136,406£23,453£14,643£5,170£90£179,762
2014-15186£138,600£21,283£12,962£9,821£3,450£186,116
2015-16132£135,771£22,855£13,317£9,017£3,215£184,174
2016-17131£141,213£22,942£15,355£10,742£99£190,351
2017-18140£149,923£22,773£16,062£7,957£500£197,215
2018-19404£152,472£24,639£15,987£9,582£202,679
2019-20342£155,605£27,709£14,810£16,269£214,393
2020-21284£192,264£27,921£13,810£1,668£235,662
2021-22426£204,216£26,478£15,981£8,935£255,610
2022-23269£218,568£23,414£17,627£6,895£266,504
2023-24228£236,488£21,314£17,575£8,347£283,725
2024-25156£245,866£29,174£8,306£9,836£293,182
2025-2645£12,211£12,211

A year in which Rachel Reeves 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, 2010-11 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll15£2,431,330
Volunteer - agreed arrangement costs505£5,590
Public Tr UND Volunteer38£3,657
Pooled Services: Direct2£2,000
Food & Drink Volunteer68£1,728
Volunteer Agreed Arrang. Costs281£1,519

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Const Office Rent 228£43,720
Stationery Purchase364£33,656
Service charge & ground Rent35£29,999
Professional Services: Direct9£27,600
Rent25£27,431
Const Office Rent32£25,403

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Accommodation Rent113£106,297
Rent59£69,533
Council tax7£10,880
Council Tax24£9,718
Utilities82£4,460
Telephone Usage/Rental67£4,124

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Aggregated Travel Costs9£69,431
Rail33£37,384
Hotel - UK Not London6£6,149
Mileage - car16£5,215
Hotel - London5£2,718
Subsistence2£167

Miscellaneous

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Removal Costs - Contingency7£7,264
Contingency1£1,237
Expense Outside Scheme2£90

Largest claims, 2010-11 to 2025-26

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 2025StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year£245,866£245,866
31 March 2024StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year£236,488£236,488
31 March 2023StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year£217,704£217,704
31 March 2022StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year£201,117£201,117
31 March 2021StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year£191,796£191,796
31 March 2020StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year£154,420£154,420
31 March 2019StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year£150,743£150,743
31 March 2018StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year£148,069£148,069
31 March 2017StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year£138,865£138,865
31 March 2013StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2012-13 year£136,972£136,972
31 March 2015StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2014-15 year£136,816£136,816
31 March 2014StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2013-14 year£135,271£135,271
31 March 2016StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2015-16 year£132,156£132,156
31 March 2012StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2011-12 year£112,131£112,131
31 March 2011StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2010-11 year£92,916£92,916

Claims refused and money repaid, 2010-11 to 2025-26

53 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £1,421 not paid and £4,054 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 Rachel Reeves 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 · Rachel Reeves’s register of interests and votes · Sources