MPs’ business costs

Alex Davies-Jones

IPSA paid £1,365,331 against 1,091 published rows for Alex Davies-Jones between 2019-20 and 2025-26 as the member for Pontypridd 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, 2022-23

187 claims, £234,615 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.1£164,15770.0%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.125£24,54410.5%
AccommodationThe 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.46£32,11213.7%
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.15£13,8015.9%

Every year in the register

Alex Davies-Jones’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2019-20 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 costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2019-2069£14,677£5,163£7,451£4,890£32,181
2020-21161£163,991£42,082£31,896£4,233£242,201
2021-22170£175,705£24,376£31,982£10,721£242,784
2022-23187£164,157£24,544£32,112£13,801£234,615
2023-24201£202,854£27,505£30,789£14,403£275,551
2024-25188£239,437£23,181£35,804£14,758£758£313,938
2025-26115£20,001£4,060£24,061

A year in which Alex Davies-Jones 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, 2022-23

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£164,157

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Advertising and contact cards8£4,880
Pooled staffing services1£4,200
Equipment - purchase17£3,290
Rent1£3,000
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage12£2,046
Business rates3£1,427

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent12£30,000
Council tax12£1,440
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage14£435
Utilities8£238

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail3£5,891
Mileage - car4£4,754
Hotel - UK Not London2£1,245
Air travel1£674
Taxi2£596
Congestion charge & toll1£305

Largest claims, 2022-23

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 2023StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year£164,157£164,157
18 May 2022Office CostsPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£4,200£4,200
31 March 2023MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2022-23£4,185£4,185
31 March 2023MP TravelMileage - carAggregated figure for travel during 2022-23£3,793£3,793
1 October 2022Office CostsRentAnnual Rent for constituency office£3,000£3,000
9 March 2023Office CostsAdvertising and contact cardsMailer to all properties£2,535£2,535
21 March 2023AccommodationRent£2,500£2,500
21 February 2023AccommodationRent£2,500£2,500
31 January 2023AccommodationRent£2,500£2,500
20 December 2022AccommodationRent£2,500£2,500
22 November 2022AccommodationRent£2,500£2,500
20 October 2022AccommodationRent£2,500£2,500
20 September 2022AccommodationRent£2,500£2,500
23 August 2022AccommodationRent£2,500£2,500
21 July 2022AccommodationRent£2,500£2,500

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 Alex Davies-Jones 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 · Alex Davies-Jones’s register of interests and votes · Sources