MPs’ business costs

Ruth Cadbury

IPSA paid £2,226,714 against 785 published rows for Ruth Cadbury between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Brentford and Isleworth 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, 2015-16

161 claims, £153,217 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.	47	£128,902	84.1%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	109	£22,888	14.9%
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	£134	0.1%
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.	4	£1,293	0.8%

Every year in the register

Ruth Cadbury’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	Travel	Starting up and winding up	Miscellaneous	Total
2015-16	161	£128,902	£22,888	£134	£1,293	—	£153,217
2016-17	119	£152,722	£26,089	£591	£3,778	—	£183,181
2017-18	48	£159,820	£20,601	£59	—	—	£180,480
2018-19	84	£163,017	£29,251	£237	—	£1,044	£193,549
2019-20	54	£165,237	£26,484	£39	—	—	£191,759
2020-21	59	£205,096	£28,721	—	—	—	£233,818
2021-22	50	£217,676	£28,655	£704	—	—	£247,035
2022-23	56	£234,862	£24,222	£94	—	—	£259,178
2023-24	77	£252,459	£29,188	£1,081	—	—	£282,728
2024-25	45	£267,183	£26,129	£171	—	—	£293,483
2025-26	32	—	£8,287	—	—	—	£8,287

A year in which Ruth Cadbury 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	£125,486
Professional Services (Staff.)	2	£2,575
Practice Liability Insurance	1	£578
Food & Drink Volunteer	26	£112
Public Tr UND Volunteer	12	£96
Public Tr RAIL Volunteer - RT	5	£55

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Furniture Purchase	5	£5,460
Computer HW Purchase	1	£4,582
Stationery Purchase	79	£4,250
Professional Services	2	£3,050
Professional Services: Direct	2	£2,400
Const Office Rent	1	£1,986

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£134

Starting up and winding up

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Recruitment StartUp	2	£750
Tel/Mobile Purch StartUp	1	£534
Scanner Purch StartUp	1	£9

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	£125,486	£125,486
9 February 2016	Office Costs	Computer HW Purchase	Feb Card - Expenses	£4,582	£4,582
18 March 2016	Office Costs	Furniture Purchase	Office furniture	£2,782	£2,782
9 March 2016	Staffing	Professional Services (Staff.)	Office Comms and Training	£2,175	£2,175
31 March 2016	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	[***]	£1,986	£1,986
31 March 2016	Office Costs	Furniture Purchase	Office furniture	£1,980	£1,980
15 September 2015	Office Costs	Professional Services	PRS - costs	£1,600	£1,600
4 January 2016	Office Costs	Professional Services	Jan claim Proff Services	£1,450	£1,450
27 January 2016	Office Costs	Professional Services: Direct	PRS	£1,200	£1,200
10 November 2015	Office Costs	Professional Services: Direct	PRS	£1,200	£1,200
31 March 2016	Office Costs	Stationery Purchase	Office Set Up	£1,063	£1,063
29 January 2016	Office Costs	Furniture Purchase	Feb Card - Expenses	£623	£623
9 August 2015	Staffing	Practice Liability Insurance	EPL	£578	£578
3 September 2015	Start Up	Tel/Mobile Purch StartUp	Office equipment - Mobile	£534	£534
9 March 2016	Staffing	Professional Services (Staff.)	Office Comms and Training	£400	£400

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 Ruth Cadbury 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 · Ruth Cadbury’s register of interests and votes · Sources