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, 2024-25

109 claims, £281,496 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.1£229,51081.5%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.75£22,4918.0%
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.24£23,0248.2%
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.9£6,4722.3%

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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2017-18129£98,089£23,605£14,505£3,859£140,059
2018-19165£153,614£22,090£16,814£7,669£200,188
2019-20161£149,319£21,701£15,406£8,189£194,614
2020-2187£157,359£19,317£16,636£3,693£197,005
2021-2288£182,872£32,314£16,683£7,705£540£240,114
2022-23117£214,993£26,153£18,800£7,313£267,260
2023-24122£221,910£24,832£23,294£6,808£276,844
2024-25109£229,510£22,491£23,024£6,472£281,496
2025-2646£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, 2024-25

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£229,510

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent1£10,500
Pooled staffing services1£4,600
Utilities12£2,999
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage12£1,599
Stationery & printing19£1,332
Software & applications17£1,114

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent1£21,746
Utilities21£688
Council tax2£589

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail2£3,402
Hotel - London1£1,722
Mileage - car2£723
Parking3£565
Congestion charge & toll1£60

Largest claims, 2024-25

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£229,510£229,510
31 March 2025AccommodationRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£21,746£21,746
31 March 2025Office CostsRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£10,500£10,500
12 April 2024Office CostsPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£4,600£4,600
31 March 2025MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£2,960£2,960
31 March 2025Staff TravelHotel - LondonAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£1,722£1,722
18 June 2024Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES£720£720
10 May 2024AccommodationCouncil taxWANDSWORTH COUNCIL£534£534
31 March 2025Staff TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£442£442
31 March 2025MP TravelMileage - carAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£438£438
31 March 2025MP TravelParkingAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£434£434
12 April 2024Office CostsUtilitiesElectricity£404£404
12 February 2025Office CostsUtilitiesElectricity£380£380
15 January 2025Office CostsUtilitiesElectricity£370£370
18 March 2025Office CostsUtilitiesElectricity£354£354

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