MPs’ business costs

Wendy Morton

IPSA paid £1,642,206 against 776 published rows for Wendy Morton between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Aldridge-Brownhills 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, 2015-16

72 claims, £119,758 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.	1	£89,010	74.3%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	50	£14,898	12.4%
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.	10	£7,475	6.2%
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.	1	£3,931	3.3%
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.	10	£4,443	3.7%

Every year in the register

Wendy Morton’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	Total
2015-16	72	£89,010	£14,898	£7,475	£3,931	£4,443	£119,758
2016-17	58	£121,197	£10,087	£10,200	£5,246	—	£146,731
2017-18	74	£133,520	£14,162	£15,192	£3,303	—	£166,176
2018-19	57	£122,318	£9,718	£15,444	£4,743	—	£152,223
2019-20	73	£124,805	£9,555	£14,456	£4,291	—	£153,107
2020-21	59	£117,250	£15,119	£15,653	£2,604	—	£150,626
2021-22	75	£106,323	£10,009	£15,782	£5,176	—	£137,290
2022-23	75	£117,101	£8,534	£15,869	£8,373	—	£149,877
2023-24	107	£153,630	£17,026	£15,964	£12,577	—	£199,196
2024-25	85	£205,700	£18,328	£17,720	£11,626	—	£253,374
2025-26	41	—	£10,495	£3,353	—	—	£13,848

A year in which Wendy Morton 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

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£89,010

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Professional Services	3	£6,440
Const Office Rent	6	£3,643
Stationery Purchase	16	£1,360
Legal Expenses Insurance	1	£657
Const Office Gas	3	£565
Advertising	3	£551

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	10	£7,475

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£3,931

Starting up and winding up

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Office Alterations StartUp	3	£2,878
Office Furn Purch StartUp	5	£1,457
Shredder Purch Startup	1	£83
Office Consumables StartUp	1	£26

Largest claims, 2015-16

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 2016	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year	£89,010	£89,010
31 March 2016	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2015-16	£3,931	£3,931
11 January 2016	Office Costs	Professional Services	[*] [*] Ltd	£2,500	£2,500
12 October 2015	Office Costs	Professional Services	[*] [*] ltd	£2,500	£2,500
11 September 2015	Office Costs	Professional Services	MP Website	£1,440	£1,440
21 January 2016	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,271	£1,271
26 March 2016	Start Up	Office Alterations StartUp	office outfitting	£1,120	£1,120
3 November 2015	Start Up	Office Alterations StartUp	office refurbishment	£950	£950
8 February 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£850	£850
12 January 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£850	£850
11 December 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£850	£850
10 November 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£850	£850
8 October 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£850	£850
16 September 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	one month rent reimbersement	£850	£850
10 September 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£850	£850

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 Wendy Morton 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 · Wendy Morton’s register of interests and votes · Sources