MPs’ business costs

Janet Daby

IPSA paid £1,583,870 against 1,067 published rows for Janet Daby between 2018-19 and 2025-26 as the member for Lewisham East 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, 2023-24

175 claims, £269,663 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.	3	£242,194	89.8%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	168	£26,727	9.9%
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	£139	0.1%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	3	£603	0.2%

Every year in the register

Janet Daby’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2018-19 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	Miscellaneous	Total
2018-19	164	£106,991	£24,270	£15	—	—	£131,276
2019-20	142	£160,335	£25,404	—	£315	£20	£186,075
2020-21	90	£206,655	£30,458	—	£24	—	£237,136
2021-22	185	£206,144	£28,411	—	—	—	£234,555
2022-23	142	£220,507	£29,709	—	£52	—	£250,267
2023-24	175	£242,194	£26,727	—	£139	£603	£269,663
2024-25	133	£242,115	£26,698	—	£19	—	£268,832
2025-26	36	—	£6,065	—	—	—	£6,065

A year in which Janet Daby 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, 2023-24

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£241,708
Training - staff	2	£486

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	10	£11,646
Pooled staffing services	1	£4,500
Stationery & printing	22	£2,396
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs	1	£1,750
Mobile telephone - contract & usage	47	£1,275
Equipment - purchase	16	£1,194

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	1	£139

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Moving Fees	3	£603

Largest claims, 2023-24

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 2024	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year	£241,708	£241,708
28 April 2023	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£4,500	£4,500
19 March 2024	Office Costs	Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs	Redecorating of [*] [*] constituency office	£1,750	£1,750
12 December 2023	Office Costs	Rent	—	£1,231	£1,231
9 November 2023	Office Costs	Rent	—	£1,231	£1,231
10 October 2023	Office Costs	Rent	—	£1,231	£1,231
12 September 2023	Office Costs	Rent	—	£1,231	£1,231
8 August 2023	Office Costs	Rent	—	£1,231	£1,231
11 July 2023	Office Costs	Rent	—	£1,231	£1,231
8 June 2023	Office Costs	Rent	—	£1,231	£1,231
9 May 2023	Office Costs	Rent	—	£1,231	£1,231
10 April 2023	Office Costs	Rent	—	£1,231	£1,231
3 March 2023	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	AMZNMKTPLACE AMAZON.CO	£951	£951
15 May 2023	Office Costs	Software & applications	Elected Technologies CaseworkerMP for 2023	£690	£690
24 January 2024	Office Costs	Rent	Final rent payment [***]	£567	£567

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 Janet Daby 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 · Janet Daby’s register of interests and votes · Sources