MPs’ business costs

Jessica Morden

IPSA paid £2,858,063 against 1,933 published rows for Jessica Morden between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Newport East 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, 2010-11

87 claims, £106,869 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£85,40479.9%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.64£12,72411.9%
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.21£1,2571.2%
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.1£7,4847.0%

Every year in the register

Jessica Morden’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
2010-1187£85,404£12,724£1,257£7,484£106,869
2011-12106£108,094£19,042£9,304£6,569£628£143,637
2012-13120£102,994£20,712£10,371£5,335£139,412
2013-14134£122,691£21,685£9,330£5,446£159,151
2014-15113£128,956£20,698£9,864£5,951£619£166,088
2015-1688£133,171£19,731£9,737£4,824£316£167,778
2016-1787£131,103£20,927£10,041£5,615£339£168,026
2017-1881£138,159£16,674£9,823£3,811£350£168,816
2018-1979£148,056£19,343£10,798£6,044£374£184,615
2019-20119£149,472£20,067£12,363£5,351£187,254
2020-21147£163,237£19,033£14,957£2,930£200,156
2021-22160£181,091£17,060£16,453£7,021£221,625
2022-23193£200,977£21,004£22,930£10,369£255,280
2023-24189£207,873£23,609£29,658£9,460£270,601
2024-25146£232,086£27,419£27,476£9,460£296,441
2025-2684£15,541£6,772£22,313

A year in which Jessica Morden 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, 2010-11

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£85,404

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Const Office Rent6£4,980
Photocopier Hire15£3,348
Telephone/Mobile Hire8£1,222
Payment Telephone/Mobile14£1,004
Business Rates1£466
Stationery Purchase9£445

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Service Charges1£406
Council Tax7£329
Home Contents Insurance8£317
Water1£100
Television Licence3£61
Buildings Insurance1£44

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Aggregated Travel Costs1£7,484

Largest claims, 2010-11

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 2011StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2010-11 year£85,404£85,404
31 March 2011TravelAggregated Travel CostsAggregated figure for travel during 2010-11£7,484£7,484
14 December 2010Office CostsConst Office Rentofficerent payment 25/12to24/3£1,568£1,568
25 June 2010Office CostsConst Office Rent£1,568£1,568
17 September 2010Office CostsConst Office RentRent - 29/9/10 to 29/12/10£1,518£1,518
27 May 2010Office CostsBusiness RatesCouncil Tax£466£466
29 October 2010AccommodationService ChargesService Charge for flats£406£406
26 July 2010Office CostsPhotocopier HirePhotocopier hire - Siemens£400£400
23 February 2011Office CostsPhotocopier HireSiemens Invoice [***]£384£384
19 November 2010Office CostsPhotocopier HireSiemens - [***]£376£376
19 August 2010Office CostsPhotocopier HireSiemens [***]£376£376
15 December 2010Office CostsTelephone/Mobile HireSiemens Rental of Telephone£360£360
30 September 2010Office CostsTelephone/Mobile HireSiemens Bill -£360£360
2 July 2010Office CostsConst Office Telephone RentalTelephone system rental£360£360
20 October 2010Office CostsComputer SW PurchaseCaseworker£335£335

Claims refused and money repaid, 2010-11

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £83 not paid and £0 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 Jessica Morden 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 · Jessica Morden’s register of interests and votes · Sources