MPs’ business costs

Stephen Morgan

IPSA paid £1,865,411 against 1,844 published rows for Stephen Morgan between 2017-18 and 2025-26 as the member for Portsmouth South 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, 2019-20

185 claims, £211,090 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	£148,411	70.3%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	143	£22,682	10.7%
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.	12	£20,328	9.6%
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.	26	£8,929	4.2%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	1	£10,740	5.1%

Every year in the register

Stephen Morgan’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	112	£54,668	£16,952	£18,620	£2,737	—	£92,977
2018-19	161	£145,931	£20,661	£22,926	£8,067	—	£197,585
2019-20	185	£148,411	£22,682	£20,328	£8,929	£10,740	£211,090
2020-21	154	£187,038	£34,489	£22,982	£2,214	£27	£246,750
2021-22	227	£185,506	£25,729	£24,379	£3,556	—	£239,171
2022-23	327	£208,090	£30,367	£25,209	£5,025	—	£268,691
2023-24	314	£234,717	£32,695	£26,716	£6,529	—	£300,656
2024-25	267	£221,924	£31,487	£27,703	£3,306	£3,232	£287,653
2025-26	97	£1,428	£17,759	£1,652	—	—	£20,839

A year in which Stephen Morgan 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	£148,111
Training - staff	1	£294
Health & welfare - staff	1	£6

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	8	£5,888
Stationery & printing	43	£5,388
Website hosting and design	14	£2,919
Pooled staffing services	3	£2,700
Utilities	9	£1,519
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	12	£1,174

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	10	£18,633
Council tax	1	£1,695
MP Budget Overspend	1	£0

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	5	£5,552
Air travel	2	£1,283
Taxi	7	£833
Hotel - UK Not London	2	£795
Mileage - car	3	£158
Hotel - European	1	£114

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Bought-in services	1	£10,740

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	£148,111	£148,111
14 January 2020	Miscellaneous	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£10,740	£10,740
31 March 2020	Staff Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2019-20	£3,318	£3,318
6 March 2020	Office Costs	Rent	[***] Final Rent S.Morgan	£2,554	£2,554
23 January 2020	Office Costs	Website hosting and design	www.stephenmorgan.org.uk	£2,499	£2,499
31 March 2020	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2019-20	£1,981	£1,981
11 March 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,863	£1,863
15 January 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,863	£1,863
12 December 2019	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,863	£1,863
8 November 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,863	£1,863
10 October 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,863	£1,863
11 September 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,863	£1,863
8 August 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,863	£1,863
10 July 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,863	£1,863
8 June 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,863	£1,863

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 £1,714 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 Morgan 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 Morgan’s register of interests and votes · Sources