MPs’ business costs

Yvette Cooper

IPSA paid £2,998,829 against 1,983 published rows for Yvette Cooper between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford CC, then Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley 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, 2012-13

197 claims, £162,065 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.	68	£133,402	82.3%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	128	£20,031	12.4%
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.	1	£8,633	5.3%

Every year in the register

Yvette Cooper’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	Miscellaneous	Total
2010-11	140	£99,716	£17,112	£2,481	£7,958	—	£127,266
2011-12	210	£118,102	£21,125	—	£10,691	£252	£150,169
2012-13	197	£133,402	£20,031	—	£8,633	—	£162,065
2013-14	172	£142,281	£22,141	—	£9,713	£270	£174,405
2014-15	167	£136,743	£20,874	—	£9,380	—	£166,998
2015-16	111	£139,459	£22,254	—	£11,709	—	£173,423
2016-17	123	£140,200	£22,365	—	£21,921	—	£184,486
2017-18	53	£150,871	£21,335	—	£14,247	—	£186,453
2018-19	54	£153,357	£22,927	—	£23,208	—	£199,491
2019-20	81	£155,169	£20,339	—	£20,560	£800	£196,868
2020-21	114	£190,629	£23,596	—	£6,766	—	£220,991
2021-22	103	£203,317	£22,236	—	£11,952	—	£237,504
2022-23	146	£218,707	£22,732	—	£13,723	—	£255,162
2023-24	151	£230,069	£25,076	—	£11,790	—	£266,934
2024-25	98	£248,481	£23,982	—	£11,820	—	£284,284
2025-26	63	—	£12,329	—	—	—	£12,329

A year in which Yvette Cooper 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, 2012-13

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£125,959
Pooled Services	3	£3,600
Professional Services (Staff.)	2	£3,219
Public Tr UND Int/Volntr	7	£352
Food & Drink Int/Volntr	42	£161
Public Tr RAIL Int/Volntr - RT	1	£65

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	4	£10,000
Stationery Purchase	49	£4,767
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	15	£1,560
Computer HW Purchase	3	£1,378
Newspapers/Journals	36	£596
Tel/Mobile Purchase	4	£468

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£8,633

Largest claims, 2012-13

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 2013	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2012-13 year	£125,959	£125,959
31 March 2013	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2012-13	£8,633	£8,633
27 March 2013	Staffing	Professional Services (Staff.)	201303 constitsystsupport	£2,884	£2,884
19 March 2013	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£2,500	£2,500
19 December 2012	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£2,500	£2,500
19 September 2012	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£2,500	£2,500
19 June 2012	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£2,500	£2,500
13 February 2013	Staffing	Pooled Services	201302 Parl Research Service	£1,200	£1,200
29 November 2012	Staffing	Pooled Services	201211 Parl Research Service	£1,200	£1,200
10 August 2012	Staffing	Pooled Services	201208 Parl Research Service	£1,200	£1,200
23 January 2013	Office Costs	Computer HW Purchase	201301 office computers	£793	£793
14 March 2013	Office Costs	Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	201303 const office phone	£409	£409
18 December 2012	Office Costs	Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	201212 office phones	£401	£401
5 October 2012	Office Costs	Stationery Purchase	201210 office stationery	£394	£394
20 September 2012	Office Costs	Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	201208 office phones	£393	£393

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 Yvette Cooper 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 · Yvette Cooper’s register of interests and votes · Sources