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, 2019-20

73 claims, £153,107 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.	2	£124,805	81.5%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	43	£9,555	6.2%
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.	14	£14,456	9.4%
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.	14	£4,291	2.8%

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, 2019-20

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£124,794
Health & welfare - staff	1	£12

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	11	£4,167
Stationery & printing	17	£1,796
Training - staff	3	£1,639
Utilities	5	£547
Software & applications	1	£500
Landline phone & internet - installation & equipment purchase	3	£374

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	11	£12,100
Council tax	3	£2,356

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	4	£2,801
Mileage - car	3	£516
Taxi	3	£490
Parking	3	£464
Other public transport	1	£20

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	£124,794	£124,794
31 March 2020	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2019-20	£2,554	£2,554
23 September 2019	Accommodation	Council tax	Payment for the reaming five months 2 x GBP589 plus GBP1178.01 = GBP2356.01	£1,178	£1,178
18 March 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,100	£1,100
19 February 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,100	£1,100
15 January 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,100	£1,100
20 December 2019	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,100	£1,100
15 November 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,100	£1,100
17 October 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,100	£1,100
18 September 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,100	£1,100
16 August 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,100	£1,100
17 July 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,100	£1,100
19 June 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,100	£1,100
17 May 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,100	£1,100
28 January 2020	Office Costs	Training - staff	5 staff training courses with Parli training (3 of 5)	£720	£720

Claims refused and money repaid, 2019-20

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £480 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 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