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, 2022-23

145 claims, £227,446 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.	10	£188,387	82.8%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	117	£26,120	11.5%
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.	10	£7,932	3.5%
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.	8	£5,007	2.2%

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, 2022-23

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£187,033
Training - staff	9	£1,354

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	4	£13,500
Business rates	10	£3,199
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	13	£2,024
Software & applications	14	£1,272
Mobile telephone - equipment purchase	2	£1,219
Cleaning services	15	£1,043

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Service charge & ground Rent	2	£4,859
Council tax	1	£2,470
Utilities	7	£602

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Mileage - car	1	£3,487
Congestion charge & toll	2	£925
Other public transport	1	£403
Rail	2	£140
Parking	2	£54

Largest claims, 2022-23

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 2023	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year	£187,033	£187,033
31 March 2023	MP Travel	Mileage - car	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£3,487	£3,487
2 March 2023	Office Costs	Rent	—	£3,375	£3,375
1 December 2022	Office Costs	Rent	—	£3,375	£3,375
1 September 2022	Office Costs	Rent	—	£3,375	£3,375
2 June 2022	Office Costs	Rent	—	£3,375	£3,375
14 December 2022	Accommodation	Service charge & ground Rent	Service charge 2022	£2,488	£2,488
25 April 2022	Accommodation	Council tax	Council Tax - London Property	£2,470	£2,470
26 April 2022	Accommodation	Service charge & ground Rent	Service Charge 2021	£2,371	£2,371
7 March 2023	Office Costs	Mobile telephone - equipment purchase	Mobile Phone Purchase	£1,143	£1,143
31 March 2023	MP Travel	Congestion charge & toll	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£895	£895
16 May 2022	Office Costs	Software & applications	ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES	£600	£600
18 January 2023	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Other office equipment	£530	£530
31 March 2023	Office Costs	Working From Home Allowance	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2022-23	£520	£520
31 March 2023	MP Travel	Other public transport	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£403	£403

Claims refused and money repaid, 2022-23

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £395 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