MPs’ business costs

Judith Cummins

IPSA paid £2,293,038 against 1,338 published rows for Judith Cummins between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Bradford South 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, 2015-16

137 claims, £147,947 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.	40	£100,088	67.7%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	57	£13,378	9.0%
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.	25	£19,597	13.2%
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	£10,051	6.8%
Starting up and winding up	The one-off costs of opening an office on election and of closing one on leaving. These fall in the years around a general election and are absent from the rest.	14	£4,833	3.3%

Every year in the register

Judith Cummins’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	137	£100,088	£13,378	£19,597	£10,051	£4,833	—	£147,947
2016-17	75	£128,107	£19,650	£23,635	£9,886	£712	—	£181,991
2017-18	87	£148,371	£15,373	£22,451	£9,007	—	—	£195,202
2018-19	88	£151,090	£21,451	£25,969	£9,521	—	—	£208,031
2019-20	136	£153,779	£27,613	£21,465	£10,745	—	£1,051	£214,653
2020-21	91	£182,098	£12,915	£26,020	£2,689	—	£1,221	£224,943
2021-22	102	£179,486	£26,402	£26,859	£7,925	—	—	£240,672
2022-23	167	£200,693	£23,774	£28,932	£11,334	—	—	£264,733
2023-24	204	£226,591	£23,332	£20,689	£9,821	—	£1,426	£281,859
2024-25	167	£242,156	£27,910	£22,110	£9,647	—	—	£301,823
2025-26	84	£5,691	£4,350	£21,144	—	—	—	£31,184

A year in which Judith Cummins 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, 2015-16

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£95,350
Pooled Services: Direct	1	£4,000
Practice Liability Insurance	1	£657
Public Tr BUS Volunteer	20	£34
Food & Drink Volunteer	9	£25
Public Tr RAIL Volunteer - SG	8	£21

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	11	£9,050
Stationery Purchase	21	£1,311
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	5	£700
Advertising	2	£612
Business Rates	1	£446
Software Purchase	2	£433

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	10	£14,955
Hotel London Area	9	£3,600
Council Tax	1	£675
Water	3	£242
Gas	2	£126

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£10,051

Starting up and winding up

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Office Furn Purch StartUp	5	£2,467
Comp HW Purch StartUp	2	£2,040
Printer Purchase StartUp	1	£200
Other Equipment Purch StartUp	4	£85
Office Consumables StartUp	2	£41

Largest claims, 2015-16

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 2016	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year	£95,350	£95,350
31 March 2016	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2015-16	£10,051	£10,051
30 June 2015	Staffing	Pooled Services: Direct	PRS	£4,000	£4,000
4 February 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,850	£1,850
4 January 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,850	£1,850
4 December 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,850	£1,850
3 November 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,850	£1,850
2 October 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,850	£1,850
14 September 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	rent payment	£1,850	£1,850
1 July 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	[***]	£1,850	£1,850
7 March 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,303	£1,303
9 March 2016	Start Up	Comp HW Purch StartUp	March 2016 Payment Card	£1,020	£1,020
23 September 2015	Start Up	Comp HW Purch StartUp	August/September 2015	£1,020	£1,020
8 February 2016	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£875	£875
12 January 2016	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£875	£875

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 Judith Cummins 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 · Judith Cummins’s register of interests and votes · Sources