MPs’ business costs

Claire Coutinho

IPSA paid £1,000,507 against 488 published rows for Claire Coutinho between 2019-20 and 2025-26 as the member for East Surrey 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, 2021-22

92 claims, £199,829 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.	6	£185,906	93.0%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	79	£13,127	6.6%
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.	7	£796	0.4%

Every year in the register

Claire Coutinho’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.

Year	Claims	Staffing	Office costs	Travel	Miscellaneous	Total
2019-20	53	£23,858	£2,412	£147	—	£26,416
2020-21	49	£158,272	£10,960	£141	—	£169,374
2021-22	92	£185,906	£13,127	£796	—	£199,829
2022-23	105	£188,573	£15,856	£851	—	£205,280
2023-24	92	£180,410	£14,935	£671	£912	£196,928
2024-25	65	£174,934	£16,931	£388	—	£192,253
2025-26	32	—	£10,428	—	—	£10,428

A year in which Claire Coutinho 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, 2021-22

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£182,839
Pooled staffing services	1	£2,988
Volunteer - agreed arrangement costs	4	£79

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	1	£3,375
Advertising and contact cards	17	£3,014
Training - staff	1	£2,520
Working From Home Allowance	1	£1,872
Stationery & printing	37	£969
Software & applications	10	£810

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	4	£726
Mileage - car	2	£40
Congestion charge & toll	1	£30

Largest claims, 2021-22

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 2022	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£182,839	£182,839
31 March 2022	Office Costs	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£3,375	£3,375
7 April 2021	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Policy Research Unit (Conservative)	£2,988	£2,988
17 May 2021	Office Costs	Training - staff	Speechwriting training for [*] [*] and rest of team. Nine week course.	£2,520	£2,520
31 March 2022	Office Costs	Working From Home Allowance	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£1,872	£1,872
16 November 2021	Office Costs	Software & applications	Subscription to Caseworker for 2021/22	£600	£600
31 March 2022	Staff Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£410	£410
2 March 2022	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	Surgery adverts in Woldingham Magazine 2022/23	£350	£350
6 September 2021	Office Costs	Postage & couriers	Cost of Royal Mail distribution of constituency survey	£281	£281
6 September 2021	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	Cost of printing constituency HGV surveys	£252	£252
2 March 2022	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	Payment for surgery advert in Smallfield and Burstow Parish News, 2022/23	£220	£220
22 March 2022	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	Surgery advert in the April edition of the Tandridge Independent	£180	£180
17 February 2022	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	Invoice for cost of surgery adverts in the Tandridge Independent, February 2022	£180	£180
11 January 2022	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	Surgery advert for February edition of the Caterham Independent	£180	£180
22 November 2021	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	Surgery adverts for December edition of Caterham Independent	£180	£180

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 Claire Coutinho 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 · Claire Coutinho’s register of interests and votes · Sources