MPs’ business costs

Stephen Kinnock

IPSA paid £2,177,284 against 1,361 published rows for Stephen Kinnock between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Aberavon CC, then Aberafan Maesteg 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, 2015-16 to 2025-26

1,361 claims, £2,177,284 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.	24	£1,688,796	77.6%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	1,154	£235,906	10.8%
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.	104	£180,684	8.3%
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.	53	£67,046	3.1%
Starting up and winding up	The one-off costs of opening an office on election and of closing one on leaving. These fall in the years around a general election and are absent from the rest.	24	£4,582	0.2%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	2	£269	0.0%

Every year in the register

Stephen Kinnock’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2015-16 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	Starting up and winding up	Miscellaneous	Total
2015-16	145	£107,112	£19,265	£5,032	£6,278	£4,582	—	£142,269
2016-17	106	£119,922	£19,461	£3,962	£7,519	—	—	£150,864
2017-18	124	£132,907	£21,856	£4,590	£4,503	—	—	£163,856
2018-19	143	£153,247	£23,250	£19,708	£10,116	—	£269	£206,590
2019-20	136	£149,418	£22,997	£22,848	£9,142	—	—	£204,405
2020-21	113	£168,584	£20,137	£22,848	£1,927	—	—	£213,497
2021-22	118	£161,150	£22,560	£22,725	£3,959	—	—	£210,394
2022-23	162	£212,464	£25,112	£22,848	£7,676	—	—	£268,100
2023-24	156	£235,783	£25,187	£26,832	£7,154	—	—	£294,956
2024-25	109	£247,551	£26,071	£29,290	£8,773	—	—	£311,684
2025-26	49	£660	£10,011	—	—	—	—	£10,671

A year in which Stephen Kinnock 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, 2015-16 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	11	£1,654,987
Pooled staffing services	5	£20,100
Pooled Services: Direct	2	£9,600
Pooled Services	1	£2,800
Training - staff	2	£1,035
Public Tr RAIL Volunteer - RT	2	£274

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	50	£81,824
Const Office Rent	52	£48,328
Stationery & printing	178	£11,130
Equipment - hire	32	£10,716
Stationery Purchase	102	£8,871
Advertising and contact cards	71	£8,761

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	61	£147,391
Accommodation Rent	29	£23,287
Council Tax	4	£4,690
Ground Rent	2	£3,808
Electricity	4	£1,031
Service Charges	2	£269

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	25	£29,417
Aggregated Travel Costs	4	£28,416
Mileage - car	7	£3,928
Parking	4	£2,562
Hotel - UK Not London	5	£1,197
Hotel - London	1	£753

Starting up and winding up

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Office Furn Purch StartUp	15	£1,432
Comp HW Purch StartUp	2	£1,419
Comp SW Purch StartUp	1	£1,000
Office Alterations StartUp	2	£504
Telephone Installation StartUp	1	£90
Tel/Mobile Purch StartUp	1	£70

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Removal Costs - Contingency	2	£269

Largest claims, 2015-16 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.

Date	Category	Cost type	Description	Claimed	Paid
31 March 2025	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year	£247,551	£247,551
31 March 2024	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year	£231,283	£231,283
31 March 2023	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year	£207,889	£207,889
31 March 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£164,984	£164,984
31 March 2022	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£156,950	£156,950
31 March 2019	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year	£148,172	£148,172
31 March 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£145,818	£145,818
31 March 2018	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year	£128,107	£128,107
31 March 2017	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year	£117,122	£117,122
31 March 2016	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year	£107,112	£107,112
31 March 2022	Accommodation	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£22,725	£22,725
31 March 2025	Office Costs	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25	£14,446	£14,446
31 March 2022	Office Costs	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£13,704	£13,704
31 March 2019	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2018-19	£10,116	£10,116
31 March 2017	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2016-17	£7,519	£7,519

Claims refused and money repaid, 2015-16 to 2025-26

6 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £11,001 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 Stephen Kinnock 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 · Stephen Kinnock’s register of interests and votes · Sources