MPs’ business costs

Gerald Jones

IPSA paid £2,084,370 against 1,204 published rows for Gerald Jones between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney CC, then Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare 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

90 claims, £170,883 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.	2	£128,319	75.1%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	74	£17,275	10.1%
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.	13	£20,540	12.0%
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	£4,750	2.8%

Every year in the register

Gerald Jones’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2015-16 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	Starting up and winding up	Miscellaneous	Total
2015-16	77	£104,140	£10,795	£15,802	£4,394	£5,806	—	£140,937
2016-17	90	£128,319	£17,275	£20,540	£4,750	—	—	£170,883
2017-18	115	£132,663	£18,927	£21,272	£5,742	—	—	£178,604
2018-19	96	£127,333	£22,871	£19,808	£6,053	—	—	£176,066
2019-20	112	£152,539	£19,928	£17,767	£6,863	—	—	£197,096
2020-21	86	£171,637	£21,604	£21,840	£2,729	—	—	£217,810
2021-22	148	£162,319	£26,350	£21,840	£6,331	—	—	£216,840
2022-23	124	£176,956	£25,692	£21,840	£7,011	—	—	£231,499
2023-24	139	£195,042	£30,990	£24,115	£6,093	—	—	£256,240
2024-25	135	£215,707	£29,267	£25,743	£5,817	—	£2,700	£279,235
2025-26	82	—	£19,160	—	—	—	—	£19,160

A year in which Gerald 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, 2016-17

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£123,519
Pooled Services: Direct	1	£4,800

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	4	£7,804
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	15	£2,641
Const Office Cleaning	10	£2,035
Stationery Purchase	10	£1,257
Advertising	4	£897
Other Equip Purchase	9	£789

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	13	£20,540

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£4,750

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.

Date	Category	Cost type	Description	Claimed	Paid
31 March 2017	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year	£123,519	£123,519
29 April 2016	Staffing	Pooled Services: Direct	PRS	£4,800	£4,800
31 March 2017	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2016-17	£4,750	£4,750
1 June 2016	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	Office Rent	£2,058	£2,058
1 March 2017	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	Const Office Costs	£1,915	£1,915
29 November 2016	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	Constituency office costs	£1,915	£1,915
1 September 2016	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	Constituenct Office Costs	£1,915	£1,915
3 February 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,712	£1,712
3 January 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,712	£1,712
4 December 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,712	£1,712
4 November 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,712	£1,712
1 October 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,712	£1,712
1 September 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,712	£1,712
4 August 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,712	£1,712
4 July 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,712	£1,712

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