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, 2019-20

111 claims, £161,114 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.10£93,88258.3%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.50£14,2938.9%
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.20£9,4225.8%
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.6£1,2040.7%
Starting up and winding upThe one-off costs of opening an office on election and of closing one on leaving. These fall in the years around a general election and are absent from the rest.22£33,85721.0%
MiscellaneousClaims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.3£8,4555.2%

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, 2019-20

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£80,969
Bought-in services8£9,313
Pooled staffing services1£3,600

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent2£3,500
Bought-in services6£1,960
Equipment - hire5£1,858
Utilities3£1,319
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage8£1,251
Cleaning services7£1,219

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent9£6,922
Council tax1£1,627
Utilities10£873

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail3£830
Mileage - car1£299
Taxi2£75

Starting up and winding up

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£26,244
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs1£4,052
Rent1£1,594
Waste disposal, confidential waste & rubbish collection3£1,177
Mileage - car5£299
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage2£190

Miscellaneous

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Redundancy1£7,269
Moving Fees1£1,141
Utilities1£44

Largest claims, 2019-20

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 2020StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year£80,969£80,969
31 March 2020Winding UpPayrollTotal Winding Up budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year£26,244£26,244
31 March 2020MiscellaneousRedundancyStaff redundancy payments£7,269£7,269
28 February 2020Winding UpMaintenance, Redecorations & RepairsMaking good constituency office at end of lease including redecoration and making good of removal of security equipment£4,052£4,052
23 July 2019StaffingPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£3,600£3,600
25 September 2019Office CostsRentDirect rental payment£1,750£1,750
26 June 2019Office CostsRentDirect rental payment£1,750£1,750
30 April 2019AccommodationCouncil taxPayment for 2019/20 to City of Wolverhampton Council£1,627£1,627
25 December 2019Winding UpRentConstituency office rent until end of lease as agreed with IPSA and compliance officer£1,594£1,594
31 August 2019StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£1,538£1,538
31 August 2019Office CostsBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£1,538£1,538
31 October 2019StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£1,465£1,465
31 July 2019StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£1,339£1,339
30 September 2019StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£1,307£1,307
16 July 2019StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£1,300£1,300

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