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, 2011-12

339 claims, £154,365 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.	213	£114,234	74.0%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	99	£20,700	13.4%
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.	26	£15,616	10.1%
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	£3,815	2.5%

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.

Year	Claims	Staffing	Office costs	Accommodation	Travel	Miscellaneous	Total
2010-11	176	£93,020	£14,878	£11,136	£5,786	£1,237	£126,058
2011-12	339	£114,234	£20,700	£15,616	£3,815	—	£154,365
2012-13	218	£138,269	£22,635	£13,936	£7,541	—	£182,381
2013-14	167	£136,406	£23,453	£14,643	£5,170	£90	£179,762
2014-15	186	£138,600	£21,283	£12,962	£9,821	£3,450	£186,116
2015-16	132	£135,771	£22,855	£13,317	£9,017	£3,215	£184,174
2016-17	131	£141,213	£22,942	£15,355	£10,742	£99	£190,351
2017-18	140	£149,923	£22,773	£16,062	£7,957	£500	£197,215
2018-19	404	£152,472	£24,639	£15,987	£9,582	—	£202,679
2019-20	342	£155,605	£27,709	£14,810	£16,269	—	£214,393
2020-21	284	£192,264	£27,921	£13,810	£1,668	—	£235,662
2021-22	426	£204,216	£26,478	£15,981	£8,935	—	£255,610
2022-23	269	£218,568	£23,414	£17,627	£6,895	—	£266,504
2023-24	228	£236,488	£21,314	£17,575	£8,347	—	£283,725
2024-25	156	£245,866	£29,174	£8,306	£9,836	—	£293,182
2025-26	45	—	£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, 2011-12

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£112,131
Public Tr RAIL Int/Volntr - RT	35	£525
Public Tr UND Int/Volntr	14	£449
Food & Drink Intern/Volunteer	92	£388
Own Vehicle Car Intern/Vlntr	8	£201
Food & Drink Int/Volntr	41	£179

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Stationery Purchase	43	£4,919
Const Office Rent	3	£3,843
Computer HW Purchase	5	£2,443
Professional Services: Direct	1	£2,400
Other	11	£2,042
Const Office Electricity	7	£1,903

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	13	£13,823
Water	2	£610
Council Tax	1	£497
Home Contents Insurance	1	£309
Gas	1	£175
Telephone Usage/Rental	6	£109

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£3,815

Largest claims, 2011-12

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 2012	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2011-12 year	£112,131	£112,131
31 March 2012	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2011-12	£3,815	£3,815
6 November 2011	Office Costs	Professional Services: Direct	Parliamentary Research Service	£2,400	£2,400
14 February 2012	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	Leeds Office Rent and Insuranc	£1,281	£1,281
9 August 2011	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	Constituency Office Rent	£1,281	£1,281
10 June 2011	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	Office rent	£1,281	£1,281
2 March 2012	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,170	£1,170
2 February 2012	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,170	£1,170
3 January 2012	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,170	£1,170
1 December 2011	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,170	£1,170
30 October 2011	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,170	£1,170
30 September 2011	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,170	£1,170
30 August 2011	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,127	£1,127
28 July 2011	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,127	£1,127
5 July 2011	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,127	£1,127

Claims refused and money repaid, 2011-12

3 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £751 not paid and £0 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