MPs’ business costs

Richard Burgon

IPSA paid £2,316,498 against 1,131 published rows for Richard Burgon between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Leeds East BC, then Leeds East CC. 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, 2015-16

89 claims, £160,167 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	£116,115	72.5%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	59	£18,540	11.6%
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.	25	£17,750	11.1%
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	£4,249	2.7%
Starting up and winding up	The one-off costs of opening an office on election and of closing one on leaving. These fall in the years around a general election and are absent from the rest.	3	£3,513	2.2%

Every year in the register

Richard Burgon’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	Miscellaneous	Total
2015-16	89	£116,115	£18,540	£17,750	£4,249	£3,513	—	£160,167
2016-17	79	£140,064	£21,875	£20,610	£6,976	£350	—	£189,876
2017-18	77	£144,515	£21,972	£21,601	£2,963	—	—	£191,051
2018-19	87	£150,928	£21,306	£22,760	£7,334	—	—	£202,328
2019-20	127	£151,758	£22,459	£19,397	£5,627	—	—	£199,241
2020-21	118	£182,724	£26,878	£22,690	£141	—	£4,043	£236,476
2021-22	80	£208,544	£23,903	£22,620	£3,287	—	£7,014	£265,367
2022-23	99	£221,399	£21,946	£25,159	£4,739	—	—	£273,243
2023-24	103	£228,859	£26,152	£25,159	£4,643	—	—	£284,814
2024-25	198	£246,891	£25,086	£25,977	£5,256	—	—	£303,210
2025-26	74	—	£10,728	—	—	—	—	£10,728

A year in which Richard Burgon 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, 2015-16

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£116,115

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	7	£7,695
Stationery Purchase	26	£3,829
Professional Services: Direct	1	£3,200
Business Rates	1	£993
Advertising	4	£676
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	4	£649

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	9	£13,950
Hotel London Area	10	£2,741
Council Tax	1	£449
Water	2	£434
Electricity	3	£176

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£4,249

Starting up and winding up

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Website Design StartUp	1	£2,400
Comp HW Purch StartUp	1	£778
Comp SW Purch StartUp	1	£335

Largest claims, 2015-16

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 2016	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year	£116,115	£116,115
31 March 2016	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2015-16	£4,249	£4,249
23 October 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£3,750	£3,750
9 February 2016	Office Costs	Professional Services: Direct	PRS	£3,200	£3,200
8 October 2015	Start Up	Website Design StartUp	2015.10 WEBSITE BUILD	£2,400	£2,400
25 February 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,550	£1,550
27 January 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,550	£1,550
25 December 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,550	£1,550
25 November 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,550	£1,550
27 October 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,550	£1,550
24 September 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,550	£1,550
27 August 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,550	£1,550
30 July 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,550	£1,550
30 June 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	[***]	£1,550	£1,550
2 September 2015	Office Costs	Business Rates	RATES BILL CONSTITIUENCY	£993	£993

Claims refused and money repaid, 2015-16

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £13 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 Richard Burgon 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 · Richard Burgon’s register of interests and votes · Sources