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, 2020-21

118 claims, £239,732 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	£193,699	80.8%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	94	£30,365	12.7%
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.	19	£15,086	6.3%
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.	4	£582	0.2%

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.

Year	Claims	Staffing	Office costs	Accommodation	Travel	Total
2010-11	78	£96,545	£16,205	£9,301	£6,789	£128,840
2011-12	82	£108,106	£19,320	£789	£7,105	£135,320
2012-13	98	£130,149	£20,499	—	£8,067	£158,715
2013-14	123	£125,016	£24,746	—	£7,473	£157,234
2014-15	80	£137,366	£22,475	—	£9,031	£168,872
2015-16	109	£137,959	£23,205	—	£9,439	£170,603
2016-17	136	£141,440	£20,954	—	£10,830	£173,225
2017-18	131	£148,254	£23,518	£1,077	£8,699	£181,547
2018-19	126	£153,302	£24,818	£5,393	£12,758	£196,271
2019-20	133	£155,553	£27,616	£16,037	£12,904	£212,111
2020-21	118	£193,699	£30,365	£15,086	£582	£239,732
2021-22	98	£201,354	£25,092	£16,176	£10,160	£252,782
2022-23	126	£221,500	£23,038	£17,742	£13,394	£275,673
2023-24	156	£235,901	£25,971	£19,203	£11,553	£292,629
2024-25	137	£250,253	£30,284	£20,119	£14,941	£315,597
2025-26	40	—	£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, 2020-21

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£193,699

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	12	£9,106
Equipment - hire	4	£5,256
Equipment - purchase	10	£4,737
Pooled staffing services	1	£3,600
Cleaning services	17	£2,967
Working From Home Allowance	1	£1,292

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	11	£9,900
Utilities	7	£2,967
Council tax	1	£2,219

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Mileage - car	1	£396
Congestion charge & toll	1	£178
Rail	2	£8

Largest claims, 2020-21

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 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£193,699	£193,699
27 May 2020	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£3,600	£3,600
30 April 2020	Accommodation	Council tax	BOLTON METROPOLITAN BO	£2,219	£2,219
2 April 2020	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Computer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories	£1,374	£1,374
3 December 2020	Office Costs	Equipment - hire	Printer, photocopier & scanner	£1,359	£1,359
1 April 2021	Office Costs	Equipment - hire	Printer, photocopier & scanner	£1,299	£1,299
1 October 2020	Office Costs	Equipment - hire	Printer, photocopier & scanner	£1,299	£1,299
1 July 2020	Office Costs	Equipment - hire	Printer, photocopier & scanner	£1,299	£1,299
31 March 2021	Office Costs	Working From Home Allowance	Aggregated figure for 2020-21	£1,292	£1,292
24 December 2020	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Computer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories	£1,258	£1,258
25 January 2021	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Computer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories	£1,211	£1,211
2 February 2021	Accommodation	Utilities	Dual Fuel	£1,021	£1,021
2 March 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£900	£900
2 February 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£900	£900
6 January 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£900	£900

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