MPs’ business costs

Stephanie Peacock

IPSA paid £1,806,458 against 1,024 published rows for Stephanie Peacock between 2017-18 and 2025-26 as the member for Barnsley East CC, then Barnsley South 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, 2019-20

161 claims, £194,614 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.	3	£149,319	76.7%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	105	£21,701	11.2%
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.	32	£15,406	7.9%
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.	21	£8,189	4.2%

Every year in the register

Stephanie Peacock’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	Accommodation	Travel	Miscellaneous	Total
2017-18	129	£98,089	£23,605	£14,505	£3,859	—	£140,059
2018-19	165	£153,614	£22,090	£16,814	£7,669	—	£200,188
2019-20	161	£149,319	£21,701	£15,406	£8,189	—	£194,614
2020-21	87	£157,359	£19,317	£16,636	£3,693	—	£197,005
2021-22	88	£182,872	£32,314	£16,683	£7,705	£540	£240,114
2022-23	117	£214,993	£26,153	£18,800	£7,313	—	£267,260
2023-24	122	£221,910	£24,832	£23,294	£6,808	—	£276,844
2024-25	109	£229,510	£22,491	£23,024	£6,472	—	£281,496
2025-26	46	—	£7,561	£1,318	—	—	£8,879

A year in which Stephanie Peacock 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, 2019-20

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£146,290
Bought-in services	1	£3,000
Health & welfare - staff	1	£29

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	11	£7,000
Pooled staffing services	1	£3,600
Bought-in services	2	£2,500
Training - staff	5	£2,080
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	12	£1,863
Mobile telephone - contract & usage	41	£1,475

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	11	£13,982
Council tax	9	£963
Utilities	12	£460

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	6	£5,206
Mileage - car	5	£1,253
Air travel	1	£1,185
Hotel - London	1	£138
Taxi	2	£124
Hotel - European	1	£115

Largest claims, 2019-20

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 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£146,290	£146,290
31 March 2020	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2019-20	£4,322	£4,322
3 June 2019	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£3,600	£3,600
28 June 2019	Staffing	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£3,000	£3,000
6 November 2019	Office Costs	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£2,000	£2,000
18 March 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,271	£1,271
19 February 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,271	£1,271
15 January 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,271	£1,271
20 December 2019	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,271	£1,271
15 November 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,271	£1,271
17 October 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,271	£1,271
18 September 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,271	£1,271
16 August 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,271	£1,271
17 July 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,271	£1,271
19 June 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,271	£1,271

Claims refused and money repaid, 2019-20

3 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £433 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 Stephanie Peacock 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 · Stephanie Peacock’s register of interests and votes · Sources