MPs’ business costs

Rishi Sunak

IPSA paid £1,537,013 against 34 published rows for Rishi Sunak between 2015-16 and 2024-25 as the member for Richmond (Yorks) CC, then Richmond and Northallerton 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, 2016-17

2 claims, £131,859 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£131,859100.0%

Every year in the register

Rishi Sunak’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2015-16 and the last is 2024-25. 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 costsTotal
2015-161£93,980£93,980
2016-172£131,859£131,859
2017-182£142,652£142,652
2018-192£145,989£145,989
2019-202£149,395£149,395
2020-212£151,607£151,607
2021-222£195,642£195,642
2022-234£210,764£168£210,932
2023-242£148,145£148,145
2024-2515£166,813£166,813

A year in which Rishi Sunak 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, 2016-17

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£129,188
Pooled Services: Direct1£2,671

Largest claims, 2016-17

The 2 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 2017StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year£129,188£129,188
29 April 2016StaffingPooled Services: DirectPRU£2,671£2,671

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 Rishi Sunak 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 · Rishi Sunak’s register of interests and votes · Sources