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, 2022-23

167 claims, £264,733 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.5£200,69375.8%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.115£23,7749.0%
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.26£28,93210.9%
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.21£11,3344.3%

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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelStarting up and winding upMiscellaneousTotal
2015-16137£100,088£13,378£19,597£10,051£4,833£147,947
2016-1775£128,107£19,650£23,635£9,886£712£181,991
2017-1887£148,371£15,373£22,451£9,007£195,202
2018-1988£151,090£21,451£25,969£9,521£208,031
2019-20136£153,779£27,613£21,465£10,745£1,051£214,653
2020-2191£182,098£12,915£26,020£2,689£1,221£224,943
2021-22102£179,486£26,402£26,859£7,925£240,672
2022-23167£200,693£23,774£28,932£11,334£264,733
2023-24204£226,591£23,332£20,689£9,821£1,426£281,859
2024-25167£242,156£27,910£22,110£9,647£301,823
2025-2684£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, 2022-23

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£195,119
Pooled staffing services1£4,200
Training - staff3£1,374

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent4£15,000
Stationery & printing22£2,643
Equipment - purchase18£1,760
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage11£1,279
Working From Home Allowance1£624
Postage & couriers8£623

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent12£27,054
Council tax1£1,245
Utilities13£633

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail4£6,274
Air travel2£2,358
Mileage - car3£1,134
Other public transport2£449
Hotel - European1£386
Hotel - UK Not London1£243

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.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
31 March 2023StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year£195,119£195,119
31 March 2023MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2022-23£4,830£4,830
18 May 2022StaffingPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£4,200£4,200
4 April 2023Office CostsRent£3,750£3,750
5 January 2023Office CostsRent£3,750£3,750
4 October 2022Office CostsRent£3,750£3,750
5 July 2022Office CostsRent£3,750£3,750
9 March 2023AccommodationRent£2,302£2,302
9 February 2023AccommodationRent£2,302£2,302
10 January 2023AccommodationRent£2,302£2,302
8 December 2022AccommodationRent£2,302£2,302
8 November 2022AccommodationRent£2,302£2,302
11 October 2022AccommodationRent£2,302£2,302
8 September 2022AccommodationRent£2,302£2,302
9 August 2022AccommodationRent£2,302£2,302

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