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, 2020-21

134 claims, £240,510 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.	10	£175,088	72.8%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	98	£28,678	11.9%
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.	16	£33,822	14.1%
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.	10	£2,922	1.2%

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, 2020-21

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£153,182
Bought-in services	4	£17,418
Pooled staffing services	1	£3,600
Training - staff	3	£678
Health & welfare - staff	1	£210

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	11	£15,620
Equipment - purchase	20	£3,209
Advertising and contact cards	1	£2,462
Working From Home Allowance	1	£1,904
Software & applications	17	£1,726
Stationery & printing	7	£1,430

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	12	£31,632
Council tax	1	£1,383
Utilities	3	£807

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Mileage - car	3	£1,494
Parking	1	£715
Congestion charge & toll	1	£409
Rail	3	£172
Hotel - UK Not London	1	£89
Taxi	1	£43

Largest claims, 2020-21

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 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£153,182	£153,182
16 March 2021	Staffing	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£8,076	£8,076
1 February 2021	Staffing	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£5,750	£5,750
27 May 2020	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£3,600	£3,600
8 February 2021	Accommodation	Rent	March London Rent - Advance Claim	£2,649	£2,649
18 January 2021	Accommodation	Rent	London Accommodation - Feb 2021 (Advance Claim)	£2,649	£2,649
28 December 2020	Accommodation	Rent	Advance claim for January 2020 London rent	£2,649	£2,649
24 November 2020	Accommodation	Rent	Advance claim for December 2020 London rent	£2,649	£2,649
26 October 2020	Accommodation	Rent	Advance claim for London rent for November 2020	£2,649	£2,649
1 October 2020	Accommodation	Rent	Advance claim for London rent - September 2020	£2,649	£2,649
26 August 2020	Accommodation	Rent	Advance claim for September rent for London accommodation	£2,623	£2,623
29 July 2020	Accommodation	Rent	Advance claim for August rent for London flat	£2,623	£2,623
28 June 2020	Accommodation	Rent	July London Rent - Advance Claim - Flat	£2,623	£2,623
24 May 2020	Accommodation	Rent	Advance claim for June's London rent	£2,623	£2,623
27 April 2020	Accommodation	Rent	Advance claim for May's London rent	£2,623	£2,623

Claims refused and money repaid, 2020-21

11 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £723 repaid. A refusal is not a finding of wrongdoing — most are claims outside the scheme’s rules, or submitted without the evidence IPSA requires — and it is shown because leaving it out would show only the money that went out.

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