MPs’ business costs

Catherine West

IPSA paid £2,011,427 against 1,085 published rows for Catherine West between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Hornsey and Wood Green BC, then Hornsey and Friern Barnet 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, 2016-17

102 claims, £161,878 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.	41	£147,156	90.9%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	54	£12,163	7.5%
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	£192	0.1%
Starting up and winding up	The one-off costs of opening an office on election and of closing one on leaving. These fall in the years around a general election and are absent from the rest.	5	£1,930	1.2%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	1	£437	0.3%

Every year in the register

Catherine West’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	Travel	Starting up and winding up	Miscellaneous	Total
2015-16	50	£118,258	£9,204	£41	£4,070	—	£131,572
2016-17	102	£147,156	£12,163	£192	£1,930	£437	£161,878
2017-18	172	£152,272	£13,949	£468	—	—	£166,690
2018-19	257	£164,053	£11,777	£198	—	—	£176,028
2019-20	132	£162,197	£13,389	£457	—	—	£176,043
2020-21	71	£184,096	£15,547	£28	—	—	£199,671
2021-22	53	£213,573	£17,308	£687	—	—	£231,567
2022-23	77	£227,538	£16,858	£900	—	—	£245,295
2023-24	71	£232,536	£17,409	£1,257	—	£912	£252,114
2024-25	75	£243,195	£21,426	£196	—	—	£264,817
2025-26	25	£400	£5,351	—	—	—	£5,751

A year in which Catherine West 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, 2016-17

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£145,045
Professional Services (Staff.)	3	£1,500
Staff Training Costs	1	£450
Public Tr UND Volunteer	18	£84
Food & Drink Volunteer	17	£76
Public Tr BUS Volunteer	1	£2

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Professional Services: Direct	2	£2,400
Professional Services	2	£2,400
Computer HW Purchase	2	£2,339
Stationery Purchase	22	£2,143
Other	3	£540
Software Purchase	1	£500

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£192

Starting up and winding up

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Comp HW Purch StartUp	1	£1,287
Office Consumables StartUp	4	£643

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Removal Costs - Contingency	1	£437

Largest claims, 2016-17

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 2017	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year	£145,045	£145,045
4 May 2016	Office Costs	Computer HW Purchase	May 2016 Payment Card	£1,408	£1,408
4 May 2016	Start Up	Comp HW Purch StartUp	May 2016 Payment Card	£1,287	£1,287
6 January 2017	Office Costs	Professional Services	Newpapers and PRS	£1,200	£1,200
22 November 2016	Office Costs	Professional Services	Surgery Leaflets and PRS	£1,200	£1,200
6 June 2016	Office Costs	Professional Services: Direct	PRS	£1,200	£1,200
29 April 2016	Office Costs	Professional Services: Direct	PRS	£1,200	£1,200
31 March 2017	Office Costs	Computer HW Purchase	March 2017 Payment card	£931	£931
27 February 2017	Staffing	Professional Services (Staff.)	Research and Speech prep	£500	£500
12 January 2017	Office Costs	Other	Fees Constit office tenancy	£500	£500
21 November 2016	Staffing	Professional Services (Staff.)	Research and Speech Prep	£500	£500
14 July 2016	Staffing	Professional Services (Staff.)	Research and speech prep	£500	£500
7 June 2016	Office Costs	Software Purchase	June 2016 Payment card	£500	£500
30 March 2017	Office Costs	Stationery Purchase	March 2017 Payment card	£453	£453
26 July 2016	Staffing	Staff Training Costs	August 2016 Payment Card	£450	£450

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 Catherine West 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 · Catherine West’s register of interests and votes · Sources