MPs’ business costs

Dame Karen Bradley

IPSA paid £2,942,498 against 2,135 published rows for Dame Karen Bradley between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Staffordshire Moorlands CC. 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, 2021-22

155 claims, £238,644 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	£171,171	71.7%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	123	£25,627	10.7%
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.	13	£34,290	14.4%
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.	17	£7,555	3.2%

Every year in the register

Dame Karen Bradley’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2010-11 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	Miscellaneous	Total
2010-11	241	£67,059	£16,470	£12,118	£9,134	—	£104,782
2011-12	87	£99,173	£19,156	£24,858	£11,215	—	£154,401
2012-13	102	£145,706	£15,034	£26,921	£12,466	—	£200,127
2013-14	116	£114,332	£16,525	£23,546	£9,928	—	£164,331
2014-15	172	£129,570	£22,445	£25,213	£9,562	—	£186,790
2015-16	113	£118,780	£22,384	£25,450	£6,826	—	£173,440
2016-17	101	£125,362	£14,496	£25,460	£9,606	£540	£175,464
2017-18	122	£128,682	£18,110	£31,729	£5,501	£186	£184,208
2018-19	127	£111,637	£15,945	£29,541	£5,083	—	£162,206
2019-20	138	£125,637	£26,966	£30,203	£7,541	£1,033	£191,379
2020-21	97	£134,140	£19,919	£33,875	£4,353	—	£192,287
2021-22	155	£171,171	£25,627	£34,290	£7,555	—	£238,644
2022-23	151	£181,241	£28,820	£30,655	£15,081	£2,278	£258,076
2023-24	193	£186,350	£29,058	£34,493	£12,930	—	£262,832
2024-25	172	£216,579	£24,307	£29,290	£8,540	£3,136	£281,851
2025-26	48	—	£11,679	—	—	—	£11,679

A year in which Dame Karen Bradley 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, 2021-22

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£168,183
Pooled staffing services	1	£2,988

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	4	£9,600
Utilities	19	£3,470
Equipment - purchase	6	£3,376
Stationery & printing	37	£1,962
Working From Home Allowance	1	£1,777
Cleaning services	20	£1,656

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	12	£33,800
Council tax	1	£490

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	4	£3,538
Mileage - car	4	£3,199
Taxi	5	£519
Hotel - UK Not London	1	£238
Other public transport	1	£38
Parking	2	£24

Largest claims, 2021-22

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 2022	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£168,183	£168,183
23 April 2021	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Policy Research Unit (Conservative)	£2,988	£2,988
17 March 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,817	£2,817
17 February 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,817	£2,817
18 January 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,817	£2,817
21 December 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,817	£2,817
18 November 2021	Accommodation	Rent	Rent	£2,817	£2,817
19 October 2021	Accommodation	Rent	Rent	£2,817	£2,817
21 September 2021	Accommodation	Rent	Rent	£2,817	£2,817
17 August 2021	Accommodation	Rent	Rent	£2,817	£2,817
20 July 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,817	£2,817
17 June 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,817	£2,817
18 May 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,817	£2,817
20 April 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,817	£2,817
24 March 2022	Office Costs	Rent	—	£2,400	£2,400

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 Dame Karen Bradley 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 · Dame Karen Bradley’s register of interests and votes · Sources