Civometry

MPs’ business costs

Simon Lightwood

IPSA paid £786,607 against 546 published rows for Simon Lightwood between 2022-23 and 2025-26 as the member for Wakefield CC, then Wakefield and Rothwell 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, 2022-23 to 2025-26

546 claims, £786,607 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.18£553,63070.4%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.426£93,60211.9%
AccommodationThe 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.69£98,19512.5%
TravelJourneys 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.31£38,8784.9%
MiscellaneousClaims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.2£2,3020.3%

Every year in the register

Simon Lightwood’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2022-23 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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2022-23122£114,830£15,116£28,699£13,061—£171,705
2023-24221£195,860£33,186£32,416£12,279£2,302£276,043
2024-25134£242,940£30,472£35,092£13,538—£322,042
2025-2669—£14,829£1,989——£16,818

A year in which Simon Lightwood 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, 2022-23 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll3£543,330
Pooled staffing services3£9,350
Training - staff2£759
Volunteer - agreed arrangement costs10£191

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent20£26,928
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs30£17,682
Stationery & printing167£14,921
Equipment - purchase78£13,566
Utilities40£8,371
Software & applications17£4,502

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent25£86,049
Council tax10£7,136
Utilities27£4,760
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage7£250

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail13£25,089
Hotel - London4£10,070
Hotel - UK Not London3£2,195
Parking3£1,120
Subsistence2£232
Mileage - car4£94

Miscellaneous

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Removals1£1,390
IPSA RICS Valuation1£912

Largest claims, 2022-23 to 2025-26

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.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
31 March 2025StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year£238,340£238,340
31 March 2024StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year£192,818£192,818
31 March 2023StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year£112,171£112,171
31 March 2025AccommodationRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£33,389£33,389
31 March 2025Office CostsRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£10,011£10,011
31 March 2023MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2022-23£5,775£5,775
31 March 2024MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2023-24£5,147£5,147
12 April 2024StaffingPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£4,600£4,600
31 March 2025MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£4,421£4,421
31 March 2025Staff TravelHotel - LondonAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£4,165£4,165
16 March 2024Office CostsMaintenance, Redecorations & RepairsRedecoration for entire constituency office (3 floors)£4,164£4,164
31 March 2023MP TravelHotel - LondonAggregated figure for travel during 2022-23£3,545£3,545
31 March 2025Staff TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£3,155£3,155
26 January 2023AccommodationRent—£2,990£2,990
27 December 2022AccommodationRent—£2,990£2,990

Claims refused and money repaid, 2022-23 to 2025-26

9 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £48 not paid and £1,679 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 Simon Lightwood 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 · Simon Lightwood’s register of interests and votes · Sources