MPs’ business costs

Gill Furniss

IPSA paid £2,131,059 against 1,151 published rows for Gill Furniss between 2016-17 and 2025-26 as the member for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough BC, then Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough 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

96 claims, £227,811 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	£165,253	72.5%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	67	£27,934	12.3%
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.	20	£26,211	11.5%
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.	3	£3,653	1.6%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	4	£4,760	2.1%

Every year in the register

Gill Furniss’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2016-17 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
2016-17	114	£121,106	£17,884	£18,113	£5,389	£5,985	—	£168,477
2017-18	125	£137,356	£22,197	£22,851	£7,198	—	—	£189,602
2018-19	107	£149,664	£22,179	£21,888	£6,598	—	—	£200,328
2019-20	114	£144,405	£25,797	£19,926	£13,404	—	—	£203,532
2020-21	96	£165,253	£27,934	£26,211	£3,653	—	£4,760	£227,811
2021-22	132	£198,622	£22,191	£22,280	£4,584	—	—	£247,678
2022-23	167	£217,928	£24,085	£23,022	£5,418	—	—	£270,453
2023-24	139	£235,794	£23,802	£27,376	£5,223	—	—	£292,194
2024-25	114	£249,525	£26,743	£28,594	£9,494	—	£8,400	£322,755
2025-26	43	—	£6,761	£1,468	—	—	—	£8,229

A year in which Gill Furniss 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	£165,134
Health & welfare - staff	1	£119

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	11	£13,387
Equipment - purchase	10	£5,164
Pooled staffing services	1	£3,600
Working From Home Allowance	1	£2,089
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	11	£1,114
Stationery & printing	20	£859

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	15	£24,637
Council tax	2	£1,304
Utilities	3	£270

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	1	£2,441
Parking	1	£1,056
Taxi	1	£156

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£3,561
Removals	2	£935
Cleaning services	1	£264

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	£165,134	£165,134
27 May 2020	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£3,600	£3,600
31 March 2021	Miscellaneous	Payroll	Total other payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£3,561	£3,561
31 March 2021	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2020-21	£2,441	£2,441
31 March 2021	Office Costs	Working From Home Allowance	Aggregated figure for 2020-21	£2,089	£2,089
1 August 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,784	£1,784
1 July 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,784	£1,784
3 June 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,784	£1,784
6 May 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,784	£1,784
30 March 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,750	£1,750
2 March 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,750	£1,750
2 February 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,750	£1,750
30 December 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,750	£1,750
1 December 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,750	£1,750
1 November 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,750	£1,750

Claims refused and money repaid, 2020-21

2 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £3,554 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 Gill Furniss 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 · Gill Furniss’s register of interests and votes · Sources