MPs’ business costs

Emma Reynolds

IPSA paid £1,849,264 against 2,162 published rows for Emma Reynolds between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Wolverhampton North East BC, then Wycombe 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, 2016-17

274 claims, £175,262 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.133£141,17180.5%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.116£20,54211.7%
AccommodationThe 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.24£9,9195.7%
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.1£3,6312.1%

Every year in the register

Emma Reynolds’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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelStarting up and winding upMiscellaneousTotal
2010-11134£86,383£18,301£16,097£1,737£122,519
2011-12161£114,708£19,511£19,900£3,071£157,190
2012-13188£132,016£22,200£19,967£3,731£177,914
2013-14193£127,124£22,116£16,820£2,423£168,482
2014-15151£135,086£20,671£11,529£4,479£171,765
2015-16133£135,465£19,460£9,785£3,147£167,856
2016-17274£141,171£20,542£9,919£3,631£175,262
2017-18242£120,975£20,090£10,596£964£152,624
2018-19223£151,559£23,680£12,071£3,825£191,135
2019-20111£93,882£14,293£9,422£1,204£33,857£8,455£161,114
2020-213£688£688
2024-25271£150,398£25,943£4,768£3,814£600£185,524
2025-2678£8,460£8,732£17,192

A year in which Emma Reynolds 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, 2016-17

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£130,276
Professional Services (Staff.)6£5,499
Pooled Services1£4,800
Food & Drink Volunteer81£315
Public Tr UND Volunteer43£279
Public Tr BUS Volunteer1£2

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Const Office Rent7£5,297
Other Equip Purchase7£3,698
Const Office Cleaning13£2,399
Install/Maint Office Equip.4£2,338
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental36£2,211
Const Office Electricity4£1,367

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Accommodation Rent13£7,800
Council Tax1£1,061
Water1£401
Gas4£332
Electricity4£194
Service Charges1£130

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Aggregated Travel Costs1£3,631

Largest claims, 2016-17

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 2017StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year£130,276£130,276
24 May 2016StaffingPooled ServicesParliamentary Research Service£4,800£4,800
31 March 2017TravelAggregated Travel CostsAggregated figure for travel during 2016-17£3,631£3,631
28 February 2017Office CostsConst Office RentConstituency Office Rent£1,750£1,750
8 June 2016Office CostsConst Office RentConstituency Office Rent£1,625£1,625
18 April 2016Office CostsConst Office RentConstituency Office Rent£1,625£1,625
10 January 2017Office CostsOther Equip PurchaseWestminster office supplies£1,258£1,258
8 June 2016Office CostsOther Equip PurchaseConstituency Office Supplies£1,218£1,218
17 February 2017StaffingProfessional Services (Staff.)Provision of training and supp£1,188£1,188
31 March 2017StaffingProfessional Services (Staff.)Provision of training and supp£1,150£1,150
7 March 2017StaffingProfessional Services (Staff.)Provision of training and supp£1,150£1,150
4 April 2016AccommodationCouncil TaxCouncil Tax 2016/17£1,061£1,061
26 October 2016Office CostsInstall/Maint Office Equip.Copier lease and copies used£822£822
1 December 2016StaffingProfessional Services (Staff.)Provision of training and supp£700£700
1 December 2016StaffingProfessional Services (Staff.)Provision of training and supp£662£662

Claims refused and money repaid, 2016-17

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £36 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 Emma Reynolds 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 · Emma Reynolds’s register of interests and votes · Sources