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, 2024-25

156 claims, £293,182 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£245,86683.9%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.133£29,17410.0%
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.14£8,3062.8%
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.8£9,8363.4%

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, 2024-25

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£245,866

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent1£9,877
Pooled staffing services1£4,600
Utilities22£3,627
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs5£3,425
Service charge & ground Rent4£2,182
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage4£1,070

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent1£5,663
Council tax2£2,056
Utilities6£424
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage5£164

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail4£7,947
Hotel - London1£1,377
Hotel - UK Not London1£318
Mileage - car2£194

Largest claims, 2024-25

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 2025Office CostsRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£9,877£9,877
31 March 2025AccommodationRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£5,663£5,663
12 April 2024Office CostsPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£4,600£4,600
31 March 2025Staff TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£4,180£4,180
31 March 2025MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£3,457£3,457
2 April 2024AccommodationCouncil taxCouncil Tax£2,056£2,056
13 January 2025Office CostsMaintenance, Redecorations & RepairsWWW.BOXT.CO.UK£1,915£1,915
31 March 2025Staff TravelHotel - LondonAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£1,377£1,377
12 February 2025Office CostsMaintenance, Redecorations & RepairsWWW.BOXT.CO.UK£1,135£1,135
15 July 2024Office CostsService charge & ground RentConstituency Office Service Charge Invoice Q2£739£739
9 January 2025Office CostsUtilitiesWater£733£733
1 January 2025Office CostsService charge & ground RentConstituency Office Service Charge Invoice Q4£688£688
31 December 2024Office CostsService charge & ground RentConstituency Office Service Charge Invoice Q3£688£688
31 March 2024Office CostsEquipment - purchaseOffice furniture£461£461

Claims refused and money repaid, 2024-25

10 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £1,604 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