MPs’ business costs

Mr Clive Betts

IPSA paid £3,133,618 against 3,575 published rows for Mr Clive Betts between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Sheffield South East 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, 2015-16

200 claims, £185,320 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.	52	£134,759	72.7%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	130	£21,952	11.8%
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.	17	£20,497	11.1%
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	£8,112	4.4%

Every year in the register

Mr Clive Betts’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	133	£97,028	£11,758	£16,411	£8,777	£90	£134,064
2011-12	170	£118,566	£18,640	£18,377	£10,002	£113	£165,698
2012-13	285	£128,394	£20,413	£19,913	£10,314	£49	£179,084
2013-14	359	£128,885	£20,608	£19,909	£9,370	—	£178,773
2014-15	218	£132,869	£23,492	£20,600	£8,353	—	£185,314
2015-16	200	£134,759	£21,952	£20,497	£8,112	—	£185,320
2016-17	193	£137,533	£20,438	£20,605	£8,744	—	£187,320
2017-18	184	£143,104	£23,034	£22,728	£6,549	—	£195,415
2018-19	289	£151,079	£23,385	£22,695	£8,556	—	£205,715
2019-20	226	£147,248	£22,153	£19,309	£9,592	—	£198,301
2020-21	251	£168,172	£16,532	£22,850	£2,916	£53	£210,522
2021-22	247	£180,844	£28,263	£23,158	£8,004	—	£240,268
2022-23	259	£199,170	£26,747	£24,391	£9,898	—	£260,206
2023-24	221	£214,674	£28,025	£26,110	£10,032	—	£278,840
2024-25	297	£240,408	£34,927	£28,903	£10,575	—	£314,812
2025-26	43	—	£8,322	£5,081	—	£564	£13,966

A year in which Mr Clive Betts 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, 2015-16

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£134,276
Public Tr UND Volunteer	21	£259
Public Tr RAIL Volunteer - RT	12	£149
Food & Drink Volunteer	18	£75

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Professional Services	12	£7,637
Const Office Rent	5	£7,205
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	51	£1,570
Computer HW Purchase	18	£1,288
Software Purchase	1	£1,000
Stationery Purchase	17	£854

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	14	£19,961
Council Tax	3	£536

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£8,112

Largest claims, 2015-16

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 2016	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year	£134,276	£134,276
31 March 2016	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2015-16	£8,112	£8,112
17 December 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,800	£1,800
20 November 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,800	£1,800
19 June 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,800	£1,800
1 April 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,800	£1,800
27 January 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,668	£1,668
25 December 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,668	£1,668
25 November 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,668	£1,668
27 October 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,668	£1,668
24 September 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,668	£1,668
27 August 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,668	£1,668
4 August 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,647	£1,647
7 July 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,647	£1,647
16 June 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,647	£1,647

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 Mr Clive Betts 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 · Mr Clive Betts’s register of interests and votes · Sources