MPs’ business costs

Kate Osborne

IPSA paid £1,498,327 against 932 published rows for Kate Osborne between 2019-20 and 2025-26 as the member for Jarrow BC, then Jarrow and Gateshead 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, 2024-25

141 claims, £342,881 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.8£250,69873.1%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.87£31,1919.1%
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.29£33,6409.8%
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.17£27,3528.0%

Every year in the register

Kate Osborne’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2019-20 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 costsAccommodationTravelTotal
2019-2025£33,545£1,177£8,178£5,355£48,256
2020-21163£165,177£19,724£24,055£7,375£216,330
2021-22144£176,590£23,222£26,701£11,074£237,587
2022-23216£220,630£27,328£29,737£20,521£298,215
2023-24187£237,456£38,162£32,389£22,545£330,552
2024-25141£250,698£31,191£33,640£27,352£342,881
2025-2656£12,900£8,391£3,215£24,506

A year in which Kate Osborne 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, 2024-25

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£241,396
Bought-in services2£5,250
Pooled staffing services3£3,750
Pooled Staffing Services1£302
MP Budget Overspend1£0

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent1£16,474
Stationery & printing27£8,649
Pooled Staffing Services1£948
Postage & couriers3£944
Software & applications1£720
Mobile telephone - contract & usage12£657

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent1£30,005
Council tax1£1,710
Utilities13£892
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage13£613
Parking1£420

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail5£11,714
Hotel - London1£5,510
Mileage - car2£4,556
Parking2£2,422
Hotel - UK Not London1£2,105
Vehicle hire cost2£477

Largest claims, 2024-25

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 2025StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year£241,396£241,396
31 March 2025AccommodationRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£30,005£30,005
31 March 2025Office CostsRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£16,474£16,474
31 March 2025Staff TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£6,076£6,076
31 March 2025Staff TravelHotel - LondonAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£5,510£5,510
31 March 2025MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£5,021£5,021
31 March 2025MP TravelMileage - carAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£4,546£4,546
25 February 2025StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£2,800£2,800
31 January 2025StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£2,450£2,450
31 March 2025MP TravelParkingAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£2,247£2,247
31 March 2025Staff TravelHotel - UK Not LondonAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£2,105£2,105
14 April 2024AccommodationCouncil taxLONDON BOROUGH OF LAMB£1,710£1,710
6 February 2025Office CostsStationery & printingAGA PRINT LTD£1,391£1,391
10 February 2025StaffingPooled staffing servicesSocialist Parliamentary Research Group (Labour)£1,250£1,250
12 November 2024StaffingPooled staffing servicesSocialist Parliamentary Research Group (Labour)£1,250£1,250

Claims refused and money repaid, 2024-25

2 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £260 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 Kate Osborne 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 · Kate Osborne’s register of interests and votes · Sources