MPs’ business costs

Yasmin Qureshi

IPSA paid £3,079,423 against 1,771 published rows for Yasmin Qureshi between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Bolton South East BC, then Bolton South and Walkden 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

109 claims, £170,603 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.29£137,95980.9%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.79£23,20513.6%
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£9,4395.5%

Every year in the register

Yasmin Qureshi’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2010-11 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 costsAccommodationTravelTotal
2010-1178£96,545£16,205£9,301£6,789£128,840
2011-1282£108,106£19,320£789£7,105£135,320
2012-1398£130,149£20,499£8,067£158,715
2013-14123£125,016£24,746£7,473£157,234
2014-1580£137,366£22,475£9,031£168,872
2015-16109£137,959£23,205£9,439£170,603
2016-17136£141,440£20,954£10,830£173,225
2017-18131£148,254£23,518£1,077£8,699£181,547
2018-19126£153,302£24,818£5,393£12,758£196,271
2019-20133£155,553£27,616£16,037£12,904£212,111
2020-21118£193,699£30,365£15,086£582£239,732
2021-2298£201,354£25,092£16,176£10,160£252,782
2022-23126£221,500£23,038£17,742£13,394£275,673
2023-24156£235,901£25,971£19,203£11,553£292,629
2024-25137£250,253£30,284£20,119£14,941£315,597
2025-2640£16,890£3,381£20,272

A year in which Yasmin Qureshi 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 typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£132,014
Pooled Services: Direct1£4,800
Professional Services (Staff.)3£1,050
Public Tr BUS Volunteer21£88
Food & Drink Volunteer3£7

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Const Office Rent14£10,207
IT/Other Equipment Hire8£5,052
Const Office cleaning12£2,862
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental17£2,850
Legal Exp/Emp Practice Insur.1£578
Stationery Purchase14£478

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Aggregated Travel Costs1£9,439

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.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
31 March 2016StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2015-16 year£132,014£132,014
31 March 2016TravelAggregated Travel CostsAggregated figure for travel during 2015-16£9,439£9,439
30 June 2015StaffingPooled Services: DirectPRS£4,800£4,800
27 June 2015Office CostsIT/Other Equipment HireEquipment Hire£1,228£1,228
19 January 2016Office CostsIT/Other Equipment HirePhotocopier Rental£1,124£1,124
20 October 2015Office CostsIT/Other Equipment HireOffice Costs£1,124£1,124
21 July 2015Office CostsIT/Other Equipment HireEquipment Hire£1,078£1,078
11 March 2016Office CostsConst Office Rent£759£759
8 February 2016Office CostsConst Office Rent£759£759
12 January 2016Office CostsConst Office Rent£759£759
11 December 2015Office CostsConst Office Rent£759£759
10 November 2015Office CostsConst Office Rent£759£759
8 October 2015Office CostsConst Office Rent£759£759
10 September 2015Office CostsConst Office Rent£759£759
11 August 2015Office CostsConst Office Rent£759£759

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 Yasmin Qureshi 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 · Yasmin Qureshi’s register of interests and votes · Sources