MPs’ business costs

David Simmonds

IPSA paid £1,118,062 against 300 published rows for David Simmonds between 2019-20 and 2025-26 as the member for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner 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, 2019-20 to 2025-26

300 claims, £1,118,062 paid. The headings are IPSA’s own categories grouped; the categories inside each are named on the register page.

CategoryWhat it coversClaimsPaidShare
StaffingThe 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£1,031,32992.2%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.238£80,9027.2%
TravelJourneys 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.56£5,8310.5%

Every year in the register

David Simmonds’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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsTravelTotal
2019-2026£42,932£1,171£224£44,327
2020-2146£168,658£14,655£729£184,042
2021-2238£180,969£12,622£637£194,228
2022-2347£188,782£16,494£1,602£206,878
2023-2470£211,579£18,123£1,607£231,309
2024-2558£238,409£13,457£1,031£252,897
2025-2615£4,380£4,380

A year in which David Simmonds 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, 2019-20 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll6£1,031,329

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent24£36,354
Pooled staffing services7£18,471
Software & applications14£6,810
Stationery & printing85£6,153
Working From Home Allowance3£3,548
Advertising and contact cards20£3,366

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Mileage - car23£2,229
Congestion charge & toll10£1,274
Taxi3£811
Rail2£671
Parking14£570
Hotel - European2£269

Largest claims, 2019-20 to 2025-26

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.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
31 March 2025StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year£238,409£238,409
31 March 2024StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year£211,579£211,579
31 March 2023StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year£188,782£188,782
31 March 2022StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year£180,969£180,969
31 March 2021StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year£168,658£168,658
31 March 2020StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year£42,932£42,932
31 March 2025Office CostsRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£5,760£5,760
22 April 2024Office CostsPooled staffing servicesPolicy Research Unit (Conservative)£3,548£3,548
18 April 2023Office CostsPooled staffing servicesPolicy Research Unit (Conservative)£3,191£3,191
17 May 2022Office CostsPooled staffing servicesPolicy Research Unit (Conservative)£3,091£3,091
5 May 2020Office CostsPooled staffing servicesPolicy Research Unit (Conservative)£3,049£3,049
7 April 2021Office CostsPooled staffing servicesPolicy Research Unit (Conservative)£2,992£2,992
17 September 2024Office CostsPooled staffing servicesPolicy Research Unit (Conservative)£1,715£1,715
23 August 2022Office CostsRent[***] 20/04/2020 to 24/06/2020£1,575£1,575
31 March 2022Office CostsWorking From Home AllowanceAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22£1,526£1,526

Claims refused and money repaid, 2019-20 to 2025-26

3 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £9,116 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 David Simmonds 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 · David Simmonds’s register of interests and votes · Sources