MPs’ business costs
Sarah Jones
IPSA paid £1,853,521 against 1,435 published rows for Sarah Jones between 2017-18 and 2025-26 as the member for Croydon Central BC, then Croydon West 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, 2017-18
260 claims, £141,986 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. | 170 | £113,769 | 80.1% |
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 89 | £28,092 | 19.8% |
| 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 | £125 | 0.1% |
Every year in the register
Sarah Jones’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2017-18 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 | Miscellaneous | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-18 | 260 | £113,769 | £28,092 | £125 | — | £141,986 |
| 2018-19 | 198 | £162,212 | £21,338 | £354 | — | £183,904 |
| 2019-20 | 165 | £164,193 | £29,114 | £844 | — | £194,152 |
| 2020-21 | 120 | £183,998 | £34,041 | — | £2,246 | £220,286 |
| 2021-22 | 114 | £217,444 | £33,939 | £202 | — | £251,585 |
| 2022-23 | 166 | £237,367 | £33,525 | £346 | £1,440 | £272,678 |
| 2023-24 | 206 | £252,840 | £38,551 | £631 | £450 | £292,472 |
| 2024-25 | 145 | £239,812 | £41,350 | £85 | £848 | £282,096 |
| 2025-26 | 61 | — | £14,363 | — | — | £14,363 |
A year in which Sarah Jones 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, 2017-18
The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.
Staffing
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll | 1 | £109,432 |
| Pooled Services: Direct | 3 | £3,600 |
| Volunteer Agreed Arrang. Costs | 166 | £736 |
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Const Office Repairs | 3 | £5,660 |
| Furniture Purchase | 9 | £4,856 |
| Const Office Rent | 7 | £4,011 |
| Install/Maint Office Equip. | 2 | £3,000 |
| Other Equip Purchase | 19 | £2,105 |
| Stationery Purchase | 8 | £1,433 |
Travel
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Aggregated Travel Costs | 1 | £125 |
Largest claims, 2017-18
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 2018 | Staffing | Payroll | Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year | £109,432 | £109,432 |
| 14 December 2017 | Office Costs | Const Office Repairs | Constituency Office works | £3,279 | £3,279 |
| 7 December 2017 | Office Costs | Furniture Purchase | Office furniture | £2,500 | £2,500 |
| 14 December 2017 | Office Costs | Const Office Repairs | Constituency Office works | £2,028 | £2,028 |
| 18 January 2018 | Office Costs | Install/Maint Office Equip. | Office set up | £2,000 | £2,000 |
| 4 January 2018 | Office Costs | Furniture Purchase | Office set up | £1,455 | £1,455 |
| 12 January 2018 | Staffing | Pooled Services: Direct | PRS | £1,200 | £1,200 |
| 5 October 2017 | Staffing | Pooled Services: Direct | PRS | £1,200 | £1,200 |
| 5 July 2017 | Staffing | Pooled Services: Direct | PRS | £1,200 | £1,200 |
| 20 July 2017 | Office Costs | Professional Services | Payment Card July | £1,080 | £1,080 |
| 19 December 2017 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent 2 | Temporary Office rental | £1,008 | £1,008 |
| 16 January 2018 | Office Costs | Install/Maint Office Equip. | Office set up | £1,000 | £1,000 |
| 14 December 2017 | Office Costs | Other Equip Purchase | Constituency Office works | £930 | £930 |
| 21 January 2018 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | — | £833 | £833 |
| 21 December 2017 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | — | £833 | £833 |
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 Sarah Jones 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 · Sarah Jones’s register of interests and votes · Sources