MPs’ business costs

Rebecca Long Bailey

IPSA paid £1,996,016 against 1,534 published rows for Rebecca Long Bailey between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Salford and Eccles BC, then Salford 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, 2018-19

130 claims, £184,408 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.2£147,97180.2%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.113£21,02211.4%
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£10,2925.6%
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.1£5,1232.8%

Every year in the register

Rebecca Long Bailey’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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelStarting up and winding upTotal
2015-16130£105,655£17,151£8,903£4,696£4,920£141,323
2016-17124£123,997£22,950£10,200£5,470£162,617
2017-18117£130,930£18,948£10,200£4,232£164,310
2018-19130£147,971£21,022£10,292£5,123£184,408
2019-20197£143,659£22,323£13,522£5,011£184,515
2020-21147£151,629£17,845£5,544£2,285£177,303
2021-22138£172,239£21,720£4,993£2,753£201,705
2022-23149£197,346£21,785£17,423£3,898£240,451
2023-24179£217,323£25,823£20,660£4,707£268,513
2024-25168£210,241£23,964£21,256£6,174£261,636
2025-2655£9,234£9,234

A year in which Rebecca Long Bailey 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, 2018-19

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£147,966
Professional Services (Staff.)1£4

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Const Office Rent13£6,582
IT/Other Equipment Hire12£2,743
Professional Services: Direct2£2,600
Waste Disposal7£1,218
Const Office Cleaning10£1,175
Stationery Purchase9£1,116

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Accommodation Rent12£10,200
Water1£64
Gas1£28

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Aggregated Travel Costs1£5,123

Largest claims, 2018-19

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 2019StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year£147,966£147,966
31 March 2019TravelAggregated Travel CostsAggregated figure for travel during 2018-19£5,123£5,123
20 September 2018Office CostsProfessional Services: DirectPRS£1,600£1,600
5 November 2018Office CostsProfessional Services: DirectPRS£1,000£1,000
26 February 2019AccommodationAccommodation Rent£850£850
29 January 2019AccommodationAccommodation Rent£850£850
19 December 2018AccommodationAccommodation Rent£850£850
22 November 2018AccommodationAccommodation Rent£850£850
24 October 2018AccommodationAccommodation Rent£850£850
25 September 2018AccommodationAccommodation Rent£850£850
25 August 2018AccommodationAccommodation Rent£850£850
25 July 2018AccommodationAccommodation Rent£850£850
29 June 2018AccommodationAccommodation Rent£850£850
29 May 2018AccommodationAccommodation Rent£850£850
25 April 2018AccommodationAccommodation Rent£850£850

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 Rebecca Long Bailey 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 · Rebecca Long Bailey’s register of interests and votes · Sources