MPs’ business costs

Jo Stevens

IPSA paid £1,929,006 against 1,221 published rows for Jo Stevens between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Cardiff Central BC, then Cardiff 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, 2018-19

128 claims, £183,215 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	£144,922	79.1%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	113	£23,428	12.8%
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.	11	£5,542	3.0%
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	£9,323	5.1%

Every year in the register

Jo Stevens’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2015-16 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
2015-16	102	£80,259	£17,934	£3,854	£4,936	£5,996	£1,572	£114,550
2016-17	98	£137,668	£21,979	£2,094	£8,011	—	—	£169,752
2017-18	103	£129,736	£21,259	£2,034	£7,240	—	£115	£160,384
2018-19	128	£144,922	£23,428	£5,542	£9,323	—	—	£183,215
2019-20	94	£132,500	£23,921	£5,085	£5,643	—	—	£167,149
2020-21	113	£152,863	£27,753	£5,186	£2,219	—	—	£188,021
2021-22	141	£171,047	£28,582	£3,218	£5,279	—	—	£208,126
2022-23	145	£188,387	£26,120	£7,932	£5,007	—	—	£227,446
2023-24	126	£208,497	£24,692	£5,896	£6,235	—	£912	£246,232
2024-25	109	£226,625	£24,678	—	£1,385	—	—	£252,688
2025-26	62	—	£11,444	—	—	—	—	£11,444

A year in which Jo Stevens 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, 2018-19

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£141,906
Professional Services (Staff.)	2	£3,016

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	5	£14,374
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	21	£3,116
Stationery Purchase	24	£1,817
Business Rates	2	£1,371
Computer SW Purchase	10	£1,072
Postage Purchase	6	£322

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Council Tax	3	£4,130
Water	3	£1,191
Electricity	2	£111
Gas	2	£110
Utilities	1	£0

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£9,323

Largest claims, 2018-19

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 2019	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year	£141,906	£141,906
31 March 2019	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2018-19	£9,323	£9,323
22 November 2018	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£3,750	£3,750
6 September 2018	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£3,750	£3,750
23 May 2018	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£3,375	£3,375
7 January 2019	Staffing	Professional Services (Staff.)	Cathod Du Consultancy	£2,490	£2,490
1 April 2018	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£2,256	£2,256
28 August 2018	Accommodation	Council Tax	Accommodation Costs Summer 201	£2,065	£2,065
1 April 2018	Accommodation	Council Tax	Accommodation Costs March 2018	£2,065	£2,065
26 February 2019	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,243	£1,243
19 April 2018	Office Costs	Business Rates	Payment card April 2018	£900	£900
31 January 2019	Staffing	Professional Services (Staff.)	MP pages of tax return	£526	£526
19 April 2018	Accommodation	Water	Accommodation bills May 2018	£523	£523
17 April 2018	Accommodation	Water	Water bill for London flat	£523	£523
29 May 2018	Office Costs	Computer SW Purchase	Payment card May 2018	£500	£500

Claims refused and money repaid, 2018-19

2 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £3,256 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 Stevens 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 Stevens’s register of interests and votes · Sources