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, 2020-21

147 claims, £177,303 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.	1	£151,629	85.5%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	125	£17,845	10.1%
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.	20	£5,544	3.1%
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	£2,285	1.3%

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.

Year	Claims	Staffing	Office costs	Accommodation	Travel	Starting up and winding up	Total
2015-16	130	£105,655	£17,151	£8,903	£4,696	£4,920	£141,323
2016-17	124	£123,997	£22,950	£10,200	£5,470	—	£162,617
2017-18	117	£130,930	£18,948	£10,200	£4,232	—	£164,310
2018-19	130	£147,971	£21,022	£10,292	£5,123	—	£184,408
2019-20	197	£143,659	£22,323	£13,522	£5,011	—	£184,515
2020-21	147	£151,629	£17,845	£5,544	£2,285	—	£177,303
2021-22	138	£172,239	£21,720	£4,993	£2,753	—	£201,705
2022-23	149	£197,346	£21,785	£17,423	£3,898	—	£240,451
2023-24	179	£217,323	£25,823	£20,660	£4,707	—	£268,513
2024-25	168	£210,241	£23,964	£21,256	£6,174	—	£261,636
2025-26	55	—	£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, 2020-21

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£151,629

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	12	£6,600
Pooled staffing services	4	£3,600
Cleaning services	12	£1,602
Utilities	27	£1,402
Equipment - hire	7	£1,152
Working From Home Allowance	1	£1,134

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	4	£4,200
Hotel - London	6	£753
Council tax	4	£321
Utilities	6	£269

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	1	£2,285

Largest claims, 2020-21

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 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£151,629	£151,629
31 March 2021	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2020-21	£2,285	£2,285
31 March 2021	Office Costs	Working From Home Allowance	Aggregated figure for 2020-21	£1,134	£1,134
17 July 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,050	£1,050
17 June 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,050	£1,050
20 May 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,050	£1,050
22 April 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,050	£1,050
24 March 2021	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£900	£900
28 January 2021	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£900	£900
14 September 2020	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£900	£900
27 May 2020	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£900	£900
18 December 2020	Office Costs	Software & applications	ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES	£600	£600
16 March 2021	Office Costs	Rent	—	£550	£550
16 February 2021	Office Costs	Rent	—	£550	£550
19 January 2021	Office Costs	Rent	—	£550	£550

Claims refused and money repaid, 2020-21

2 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £154 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 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