MPs’ business costs
Lucy Powell
IPSA paid £2,438,587 against 1,042 published rows for Lucy Powell between 2012-13 and 2025-26 as the member for Manchester Central 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, 2025-26
34 claims, £8,076 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 33 | £7,035 | 87.1% |
| Miscellaneous | Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19. | 1 | £1,041 | 12.9% |
Every year in the register
Lucy Powell’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2012-13 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012-13 | 70 | £30,274 | £2,408 | £2,589 | £3,356 | £2,371 | — | £40,998 |
| 2013-14 | 189 | £135,008 | £20,199 | £3,464 | £7,187 | £2,899 | — | £168,757 |
| 2014-15 | 122 | £136,702 | £18,143 | £2,581 | £7,228 | — | — | £164,653 |
| 2015-16 | 72 | £125,223 | £18,657 | — | £8,016 | — | — | £151,895 |
| 2016-17 | 65 | £139,255 | £23,083 | — | £7,718 | — | — | £170,055 |
| 2017-18 | 53 | £146,482 | £22,541 | — | £8,540 | — | — | £177,564 |
| 2018-19 | 57 | £163,487 | £20,784 | — | £10,458 | — | — | £194,729 |
| 2019-20 | 52 | £155,930 | £14,021 | — | £6,371 | — | — | £176,321 |
| 2020-21 | 63 | £177,932 | £21,058 | — | £5,432 | — | — | £204,422 |
| 2021-22 | 47 | £188,547 | £14,913 | — | £7,416 | — | — | £210,877 |
| 2022-23 | 62 | £217,064 | £25,337 | — | £9,913 | — | — | £252,313 |
| 2023-24 | 74 | £231,207 | £21,675 | — | £10,491 | — | — | £263,373 |
| 2024-25 | 82 | £202,296 | £39,729 | — | £12,529 | — | — | £254,554 |
| 2025-26 | 34 | — | £7,035 | — | — | — | £1,041 | £8,076 |
A year in which Lucy Powell 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, 2025-26
The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Stationery & printing | 13 | £1,861 |
| Parking | 2 | £1,692 |
| Software & applications | 1 | £1,476 |
| Landline phone & internet - rental & usage | 3 | £1,231 |
| Insurance - buildings | 1 | £445 |
| Waste disposal, confidential waste & rubbish collection | 3 | £210 |
Miscellaneous
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Removals | 1 | £1,041 |
Largest claims, 2025-26
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 December 2025 | Office Costs | Parking | [200012955-3] | £1,540 | £1,540 |
| 31 May 2025 | Office Costs | Software & applications | ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES | £1,476 | £1,476 |
| 15 August 2025 | Miscellaneous | Removals | office clearance | £1,041 | £1,041 |
| 18 July 2025 | Office Costs | Landline phone & internet - rental & usage | Landline | £509 | £509 |
| 19 September 2025 | Office Costs | Landline phone & internet - rental & usage | Landline | £503 | £503 |
| 8 January 2026 | Office Costs | Insurance - buildings | BROWN&BROWN INSURANCE | £445 | £445 |
| 26 November 2025 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | Banner December 2025 | £248 | £248 |
| 28 August 2025 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | Banner September 2025 | £248 | £248 |
| 17 April 2025 | Office Costs | Landline phone & internet - rental & usage | Landline | £219 | £219 |
| 16 December 2025 | Office Costs | Parking | [200012955-2] | £152 | £152 |
| 26 November 2025 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | Banner December 2025 | £150 | £150 |
| 26 November 2025 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | Banner December 2025 | £150 | £150 |
| 26 November 2025 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | Banner December 2025 | £150 | £150 |
| 28 August 2025 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | Banner September 2025 | £150 | £150 |
| 28 August 2025 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | Banner September 2025 | £150 | £150 |
Claims refused and money repaid, 2025-26
9 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £2,250 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 Lucy Powell 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 · Lucy Powell’s register of interests and votes · Sources