MPs’ business costs

Mike Kane

IPSA paid £2,410,583 against 1,483 published rows for Mike Kane between 2013-14 and 2025-26 as the member for Wythenshawe and Sale 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, 2020-21

114 claims, £212,301 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.	3	£163,673	77.1%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	76	£22,651	10.7%
Accommodation	The 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.	27	£19,372	9.1%
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.	8	£6,605	3.1%

Every year in the register

Mike Kane’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2013-14 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
2013-14	17	£15,523	£1,050	£2,250	£851	—	—	£19,674
2014-15	136	£119,948	£16,909	£19,234	£8,234	£182	—	£164,507
2015-16	136	£138,910	£19,103	£19,277	£8,529	—	—	£185,818
2016-17	116	£139,120	£17,511	£19,809	£8,236	—	—	£184,677
2017-18	120	£133,026	£18,407	£20,259	£4,709	—	—	£176,400
2018-19	131	£137,823	£17,847	£19,196	£10,570	—	—	£185,436
2019-20	128	£135,465	£21,844	£20,032	£14,507	—	—	£191,848
2020-21	114	£163,673	£22,651	£19,372	£6,605	—	—	£212,301
2021-22	131	£159,062	£33,429	£20,559	£11,013	—	—	£224,063
2022-23	125	£204,838	£22,500	£21,388	£13,659	—	—	£262,384
2023-24	126	£235,740	£23,014	£22,944	£13,006	—	—	£294,703
2024-25	157	£226,091	£30,481	£23,106	£12,493	—	—	£292,172
2025-26	46	—	£13,888	£1,944	—	—	£768	£16,599

A year in which Mike Kane 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, 2020-21

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£159,233
Pooled staffing services	1	£3,600
Training - staff	1	£840

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	4	£6,960
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	11	£3,770
Service charge & ground Rent	3	£3,097
Stationery & printing	14	£2,776
Working From Home Allowance	1	£1,870
Equipment - hire	9	£1,648

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	11	£17,279
Utilities	6	£1,333
Council tax	1	£607
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	9	£153

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	3	£6,333
Mileage - car	1	£183
Mileage - bicycle	1	£52
Parking	1	£16
Taxi	1	£16
Subsistence	1	£5

Largest claims, 2020-21

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 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£159,233	£159,233
31 March 2021	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2020-21	£6,170	£6,170
27 May 2020	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£3,600	£3,600
31 March 2021	Office Costs	Working From Home Allowance	Aggregated figure for 2020-21	£1,870	£1,870
23 February 2021	Office Costs	Rent	—	£1,740	£1,740
24 November 2020	Office Costs	Rent	—	£1,740	£1,740
23 August 2020	Office Costs	Rent	—	£1,740	£1,740
27 May 2020	Office Costs	Rent	—	£1,740	£1,740
9 March 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,571	£1,571
9 February 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,571	£1,571
12 January 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,571	£1,571
8 December 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,571	£1,571
8 November 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,571	£1,571
11 October 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,571	£1,571
8 September 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,571	£1,571

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 Mike Kane 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 · Mike Kane’s register of interests and votes · Sources