MPs’ business costs

Jo Platt

IPSA paid £784,685 against 554 published rows for Jo Platt between 2017-18 and 2025-26 as the member for Leigh CC, then Leigh and Atherton 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, 2017-18

113 claims, £160,125 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	£106,174	66.3%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	91	£23,225	14.5%
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.	18	£25,135	15.7%
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	£5,522	3.4%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	1	£70	0.0%

Every year in the register

Jo Platt’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2017-18 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
2017-18	113	£106,174	£23,225	£25,135	£5,522	—	£70	£160,125
2018-19	102	£151,860	£22,644	£23,653	£7,550	—	—	£205,706
2019-20	104	£103,409	£14,447	£16,417	£6,489	£37,857	£13,065	£191,684
2024-25	146	£149,263	£29,858	£16,141	£13,664	—	—	£208,925
2025-26	89	£2,161	£13,703	£2,380	—	—	—	£18,244

A year in which Jo Platt 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, 2017-18

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£102,974
Pooled Services: Direct	1	£3,200

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	10	£9,568
Stationery Purchase	17	£2,137
Training MP Staff	4	£1,892
Const Office Repairs	1	£1,730
Computer HW Purchase	2	£1,229
Furniture Purchase	5	£1,165

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	9	£21,450
Hotel London Area	6	£2,700
Council Tax	1	£751
Service Charges	1	£180
Electricity	1	£54

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£5,522

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Removal Costs - Contingency	1	£70

Largest claims, 2017-18

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 2018	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year	£102,974	£102,974
31 March 2018	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2017-18	£5,522	£5,522
18 August 2017	Staffing	Pooled Services: Direct	PRS	£3,200	£3,200
26 March 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,383	£2,383
23 February 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,383	£2,383
26 January 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,383	£2,383
21 December 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,383	£2,383
24 November 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,383	£2,383
29 October 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,383	£2,383
29 September 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,383	£2,383
29 August 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,383	£2,383
28 July 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,383	£2,383
31 July 2017	Office Costs	Const Office Repairs	Office remodelling work AUG 17	£1,730	£1,730
16 March 2018	Office Costs	Computer HW Purchase	March 18 Payment Card	£1,151	£1,151
19 February 2018	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,050	£1,050

Claims refused and money repaid, 2017-18

7 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £1,512 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 Jo Platt 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 · Jo Platt’s register of interests and votes · Sources