MPs’ business costs

Sir Jeremy Wright

IPSA paid £2,801,919 against 1,819 published rows for Sir Jeremy Wright between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Kenilworth and Southam 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

117 claims, £176,151 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.1£124,48070.7%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.81£22,31312.7%
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.22£21,22812.1%
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.13£8,1294.6%

Every year in the register

Sir Jeremy Wright’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 costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2010-11113£64,598£12,989£16,168£5,918£99,673
2011-12151£104,423£17,059£17,488£6,373£145,344
2012-13140£104,349£17,614£17,702£5,768£145,433
2013-14154£131,445£13,123£19,138£7,382£171,088
2014-15136£121,685£15,197£19,522£8,910£165,313
2015-16123£115,667£20,699£18,234£8,423£163,024
2016-1789£111,923£14,405£20,189£8,403£154,919
2017-1878£117,971£22,246£21,195£9,243£170,655
2018-1973£127,532£17,529£19,630£7,946£172,638
2019-20117£124,480£22,313£21,228£8,129£176,151
2020-2177£155,437£9,102£18,169£2,550£185,258
2021-2287£160,261£18,581£21,175£4,078£336£204,431
2022-23155£200,414£27,150£22,395£12,247£262,206
2023-24148£225,546£17,503£24,931£11,290£279,270
2024-25122£244,111£17,300£25,585£8,132£295,128
2025-2656£8,616£2,774£11,390

A year in which Sir Jeremy Wright 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£124,480

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent6£11,634
Pooled staffing services1£3,142
Stationery & printing36£2,507
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage9£1,177
Software & applications3£825
Website hosting and design2£600

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent12£18,360
Utilities9£1,966
Council tax1£903

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail3£6,338
Parking3£895
Mileage - car4£410
Taxi1£279
Hotel - UK Not London1£192
Subsistence1£16

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£124,480£124,480
31 March 2020MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2019-20£4,419£4,419
15 May 2019Office CostsPooled staffing servicesPolicy Research Unit (Conservative)£3,142£3,142
1 April 2020Office CostsRent£1,939£1,939
11 February 2020Office CostsRentWARWICK DISTRICT COUNC£1,939£1,939
2 January 2020Office CostsRent£1,939£1,939
14 November 2019Office CostsRentWARWICK DISTRICT COUNC£1,939£1,939
2 October 2019Office CostsRentDirect rental payment£1,939£1,939
3 July 2019Office CostsRentDirect rental payment£1,939£1,939
31 March 2020Staff TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2019-20£1,911£1,911
1 April 2020AccommodationRent£1,530£1,530
4 March 2020AccommodationRent£1,530£1,530
5 February 2020AccommodationRent£1,530£1,530
2 January 2020AccommodationRent£1,530£1,530
5 December 2019AccommodationRent£1,530£1,530

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 Sir Jeremy Wright 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 · Sir Jeremy Wright’s register of interests and votes · Sources