MPs’ business costs
Marsha De Cordova
IPSA paid £1,684,146 against 716 published rows for Marsha De Cordova between 2017-18 and 2025-26 as the member for Battersea 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, 2019-20
76 claims, £184,972 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 | £152,277 | 82.3% |
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 69 | £31,993 | 17.3% |
| 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. | 5 | £701 | 0.4% |
Every year in the register
Marsha De Cordova’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2017-18 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 | Travel | Miscellaneous | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-18 | 79 | £102,674 | £23,431 | — | — | £126,105 |
| 2018-19 | 111 | £157,673 | £27,308 | £270 | — | £185,250 |
| 2019-20 | 76 | £152,277 | £31,993 | £701 | — | £184,972 |
| 2020-21 | 93 | £179,435 | £30,032 | £499 | — | £209,965 |
| 2021-22 | 66 | £165,830 | £29,275 | £167 | — | £195,272 |
| 2022-23 | 96 | £222,043 | £24,950 | £359 | — | £247,352 |
| 2023-24 | 95 | £229,626 | £34,342 | £1,482 | £96 | £265,546 |
| 2024-25 | 74 | £232,757 | £29,126 | £65 | — | £261,948 |
| 2025-26 | 26 | £1,050 | £6,685 | — | — | £7,735 |
A year in which Marsha De Cordova 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, 2019-20
The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.
Staffing
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll | 1 | £148,677 |
| Pooled staffing services | 1 | £3,600 |
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Rent | 4 | £18,420 |
| Business rates | 1 | £5,078 |
| Landline phone & internet - rental & usage | 10 | £2,965 |
| Equipment - hire | 5 | £2,232 |
| Stationery & printing | 29 | £1,739 |
| Software & applications | 2 | £563 |
Travel
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Taxi | 2 | £499 |
| Rail | 1 | £179 |
| Congestion charge & toll | 1 | £12 |
| Parking | 1 | £12 |
Largest claims, 2019-20
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 2020 | Staffing | Payroll | Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year | £148,677 | £148,677 |
| 20 August 2019 | Office Costs | Business rates | rates for consituency office | £5,078 | £5,078 |
| 25 March 2020 | Office Costs | Rent | — | £4,605 | £4,605 |
| 26 December 2019 | Office Costs | Rent | — | £4,605 | £4,605 |
| 25 September 2019 | Office Costs | Rent | Direct rental payment | £4,605 | £4,605 |
| 26 June 2019 | Office Costs | Rent | Direct rental payment | £4,605 | £4,605 |
| 23 July 2019 | Staffing | Pooled staffing services | Parliamentary Research Service (Labour) | £3,600 | £3,600 |
| 19 June 2019 | Office Costs | Software & applications | ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES | £500 | £500 |
| 4 April 2019 | Office Costs | Landline phone & internet - rental & usage | Landline & internet package | £494 | £494 |
| 31 March 2020 | MP Travel | Taxi | Aggregated figure for travel during 2019-20 | £493 | £493 |
| 15 July 2019 | Office Costs | Landline phone & internet - rental & usage | Landline & internet package | £484 | £484 |
| 2 March 2020 | Office Costs | Landline phone & internet - rental & usage | Landline | £480 | £480 |
| 1 March 2019 | Office Costs | Equipment - hire | Other office equipment | £480 | £480 |
| 1 December 2019 | Office Costs | Equipment - hire | Other office equipment | £438 | £438 |
| 1 September 2019 | Office Costs | Equipment - hire | Other office equipment | £438 | £438 |
Claims refused and money repaid, 2019-20
2 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £251 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 Marsha De Cordova 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 · Marsha De Cordova’s register of interests and votes · Sources