MPs’ business costs

Suella Braverman

IPSA paid £1,687,338 against 1,098 published rows for Suella Braverman between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Fareham CC, then Fareham and Waterlooville 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, 2016-17

93 claims, £158,890 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.4£125,27078.8%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.72£17,15410.8%
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.13£11,9077.5%
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.1£4,2592.7%
Starting up and winding upThe 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.3£3000.2%

Every year in the register

Suella Braverman’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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelStarting up and winding upMiscellaneousTotal
2015-1679£82,132£14,113£10,734£2,939£4,540£114,458
2016-1793£125,270£17,154£11,907£4,259£300£158,890
2017-1869£136,919£13,430£8,535£3,078£161,963
2018-19115£135,884£16,662£3,897£3,282£159,726
2019-20116£118,707£15,996£5,724£2,918£143,345
2020-21100£139,004£20,261£5,332£1,375£165,972
2021-2298£161,945£11,868£5,426£1,616£180,856
2022-23123£147,486£14,267£5,955£1,887£169,595
2023-24107£157,101£11,665£6,306£730£912£176,715
2024-25148£214,698£17,460£6,408£2,315£240,882
2025-2650£9,415£4,627£895£14,937

A year in which Suella Braverman 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, 2016-17

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£122,724
Pooled Services: Direct1£2,000
Staff Training Costs2£546

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Const Office Rent1£4,224
Stationery Purchase21£2,820
Professional Services: Direct1£2,735
Training MP Staff4£1,386
Professional Services1£1,200
Newspapers/Journals4£1,141

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Accommodation Rent13£11,907

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Aggregated Travel Costs1£4,259

Starting up and winding up

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Office Consumables StartUp2£278
Other Equipment Purch StartUp1£22

Largest claims, 2016-17

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 2017StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year£122,724£122,724
31 March 2017TravelAggregated Travel CostsAggregated figure for travel during 2016-17£4,259£4,259
27 April 2016Office CostsConst Office Rent£4,224£4,224
29 April 2016Office CostsProfessional Services: DirectPRU£2,735£2,735
1 April 2016StaffingPooled Services: DirectERG£2,000£2,000
8 August 2016Office CostsProfessional ServicesApprenticeship Fair£1,200£1,200
16 February 2017AccommodationAccommodation Rent£995£995
20 January 2017AccommodationAccommodation Rent£995£995
18 December 2016AccommodationAccommodation Rent£995£995
18 November 2016AccommodationAccommodation Rent£995£995
16 October 2016AccommodationAccommodation Rent£995£995
16 September 2016AccommodationAccommodation Rent£995£995
16 August 2016AccommodationAccommodation Rent£995£995
20 July 2016AccommodationAccommodation Rent£995£995
16 June 2016AccommodationAccommodation Rent£995£995

Claims refused and money repaid, 2016-17

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £546 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 Suella Braverman 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 · Suella Braverman’s register of interests and votes · Sources