MPs’ business costs

Matt Rodda

IPSA paid £1,667,133 against 810 published rows for Matt Rodda between 2017-18 and 2025-26 as the member for Reading East BC, then Reading 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, 2023-24

107 claims, £263,171 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.20£220,46983.8%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.83£35,72513.6%
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.4£6,9772.7%

Every year in the register

Matt Rodda’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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2017-1880£97,288£23,629£7,299£128,216
2018-1956£144,040£23,398£6,133£60£173,631
2019-20102£128,090£26,365£175£6,070£160,700
2020-21104£169,938£22,907£5,750£198,595
2021-2298£182,736£30,821£6,441£219,998
2022-23105£213,629£26,977£6,698£247,305
2023-24107£220,469£35,725£6,977£263,171
2024-25106£213,891£31,130£8,086£253,107
2025-2652£12,906£9,503£22,409

A year in which Matt Rodda 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, 2023-24

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£182,196
Bought-in services17£33,393
Pooled staffing services1£4,500
Working From Home Allowance1£381

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent14£21,892
Stationery & printing25£6,307
Equipment - purchase3£3,638
Equipment - hire5£1,690
Software & applications15£987
Mobile telephone - contract & usage12£852

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Railcard1£6,336
Rail2£599
Mileage - car1£42

Largest claims, 2023-24

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 2024StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year£182,196£182,196
31 March 2024MP TravelRailcardAggregated figure for travel during 2023-24£6,336£6,336
28 April 2023StaffingPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£4,500£4,500
24 May 2023StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£3,600£3,600
8 December 2023StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£3,003£3,003
28 February 2024Office CostsEquipment - purchasePrinter, photocopier & scanner£3,000£3,000
3 March 2024StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£2,550£2,550
23 January 2024StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£2,400£2,400
25 September 2023StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£2,400£2,400
26 June 2023StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£2,400£2,400
20 March 2024Office CostsStationery & printingVIKING [200010137-6041]£2,371£2,371
10 June 2023StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£2,213£2,213
28 April 2023StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£1,988£1,988
3 March 2024StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£1,980£1,980
12 August 2023StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£1,898£1,898

Claims refused and money repaid, 2023-24

7 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £11 not paid and £1,688 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 Matt Rodda 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 · Matt Rodda’s register of interests and votes · Sources