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, 2022-23

117 claims, £267,260 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	£214,993	80.4%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	78	£26,153	9.8%
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.	25	£18,800	7.0%
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.	11	£7,313	2.7%

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, 2022-23

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£214,603
Training - staff	1	£375
Working From Home Allowance	1	£16

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	14	£12,250
Utilities	16	£5,526
Pooled staffing services	1	£2,100
Equipment - purchase	6	£2,059
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	9	£943
Waste disposal, confidential waste & rubbish collection	2	£779

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	12	£17,067
Council tax	1	£1,107
Utilities	12	£626

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	3	£3,580
Mileage - car	3	£1,827
Hotel - London	1	£1,616
Congestion charge & toll	1	£150
Parking	2	£128
Taxi	1	£12

Largest claims, 2022-23

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 2023	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year	£214,603	£214,603
31 March 2023	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£2,997	£2,997
17 February 2023	Accommodation	Rent	[***] Rent due 19/02/2023 and 01/03/2023 on Accommodation - Stephanie Peacock	£2,303	£2,303
18 May 2022	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£2,100	£2,100
4 April 2023	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,800	£1,800
31 March 2023	Staff Travel	Hotel - London	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£1,616	£1,616
31 March 2023	MP Travel	Mileage - car	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£1,438	£1,438
29 December 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,333	£1,333
29 November 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,333	£1,333
1 November 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,333	£1,333
29 September 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,333	£1,333
13 September 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,333	£1,333
13 September 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,333	£1,333
28 June 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,333	£1,333
31 May 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,333	£1,333

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