MPs’ business costs

Dr Kieran Mullan

IPSA paid £1,284,970 against 863 published rows for Dr Kieran Mullan between 2019-20 and 2025-26 as the member for Crewe and Nantwich CC, then Bexhill and Battle 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

122 claims, £227,359 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.10£180,00179.2%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.91£24,32410.7%
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.13£19,3488.5%
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.8£3,6861.6%

Every year in the register

Dr Kieran Mullan’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 costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2019-2050£16,692£20,205£3,533£2,736£300£43,466
2020-21123£149,569£25,096£15,553£1,560£5,450£197,228
2021-22122£180,001£24,324£19,348£3,686£227,359
2022-23152£181,972£26,912£18,240£7,662£234,786
2023-24160£221,001£17,416£14,440£12,171£210£265,239
2024-25189£235,823£32,562£20,134£7,101£6,383£302,004
2025-2667£200£11,032£3,656£14,888

A year in which Dr Kieran Mullan 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 typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£174,437
Pooled staffing services1£2,988
Training - staff8£2,576

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent4£12,600
Stationery & printing14£2,055
Service charge & ground Rent1£1,346
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage11£1,338
Utilities6£1,306
Software & applications3£1,299

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent1£17,822
Council tax3£757
Utilities6£609
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage2£106
Landline phone & internet - installation & equipment purchase1£54

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail3£2,835
Hotel - London1£525
Mileage - car2£309
Subsistence1£14
Parking1£4

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.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
31 March 2022StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year£174,437£174,437
31 March 2022AccommodationRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22£17,822£17,822
29 March 2022Office CostsRent£3,150£3,150
4 January 2022Office CostsRent£3,150£3,150
28 September 2021Office CostsRentRent£3,150£3,150
29 June 2021Office CostsRent£3,150£3,150
7 April 2021StaffingPooled staffing servicesPolicy Research Unit (Conservative)£2,988£2,988
31 March 2022MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2021-22£2,580£2,580
6 April 2021Office CostsService charge & ground RentService charge£1,346£1,346
23 February 2021StaffingTraining - staffPARLI-TRAINING£1,207£1,207
12 November 2021Office CostsStationery & printingCARTRIDGEPEOPLE.COM£680£680
5 March 2021Office CostsLandline phone & internet - rental & usageLandline£648£648
31 January 2022Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES£600£600
18 March 2021Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES£600£600
28 April 2021Office CostsUtilitiesGas£565£565

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 Dr Kieran Mullan 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 · Dr Kieran Mullan’s register of interests and votes · Sources