MPs’ business costs

Darren Jones

IPSA paid £2,002,832 against 1,176 published rows for Darren Jones between 2017-18 and 2025-26 as the member for Bristol North West 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, 2017-18

123 claims, £169,361 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.	16	£115,321	68.1%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	87	£25,837	15.3%
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.	19	£19,286	11.4%
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	£8,916	5.3%

Every year in the register

Darren Jones’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2017-18 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
2017-18	123	£115,321	£25,837	£19,286	£8,916	—	£169,361
2018-19	154	£148,377	£24,309	£28,165	£9,615	£585	£211,051
2019-20	140	£156,284	£25,005	£32,881	£9,729	—	£223,899
2020-21	134	£175,088	£28,678	£33,822	£2,922	—	£240,510
2021-22	111	£181,895	£28,157	£29,591	£9,416	£852	£249,910
2022-23	143	£208,764	£25,347	£28,701	£9,036	—	£271,848
2023-24	199	£225,019	£25,591	£34,298	£9,614	£2,141	£296,662
2024-25	128	£239,904	£26,565	£46,600	£7,970	£6,632	£327,670
2025-26	44	—	£6,706	£5,215	—	—	£11,921

A year in which Darren 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, 2017-18

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£95,326
Professional Services (Staff.)	4	£16,374
Staff Training Costs	11	£3,622

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	10	£14,210
Website - Design/Production	1	£3,000
Computer HW Purchase	4	£2,550
Other Equip Purchase	12	£1,337
Computer SW Purchase	2	£796
Stationery Purchase	15	£787

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	11	£17,550
Council Tax	1	£958
Other Fuel	1	£413
Water	3	£214
Electricity	3	£151

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£8,916

Largest claims, 2017-18

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 2018	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year	£95,326	£95,326
29 March 2018	Staffing	Professional Services (Staff.)	Project Services	£15,446	£15,446
31 March 2018	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2017-18	£8,916	£8,916
11 September 2017	Office Costs	Website - Design/Production	Website Fee	£3,000	£3,000
5 July 2017	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£2,450	£2,450
1 March 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	Advance claim for London rent	£1,755	£1,755
6 February 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	Rent from 24.2.18	£1,755	£1,755
10 January 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	Rent	£1,755	£1,755
29 November 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	MP London Rent - from 24.12.17	£1,755	£1,755
1 November 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	MP London Rent	£1,755	£1,755
4 October 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	Rent - October	£1,755	£1,755
19 August 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,755	£1,755
20 July 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	London Rent - July 17	£1,755	£1,755
19 July 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,755	£1,755
23 February 2018	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,680	£1,680

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 Darren 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 · Darren Jones’s register of interests and votes · Sources