Civometry

MPs’ business costs

Mike Wood

IPSA paid £2,058,445 against 1,581 published rows for Mike Wood between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Dudley South BC, then Kingswinford and South Staffordshire 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

148 claims, £220,698 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.14£170,60777.3%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.107£20,6899.4%
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.18£24,22211.0%
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.9£5,1802.3%

Every year in the register

Mike Wood’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2015-16 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 costsAccommodationTravelStarting up and winding upTotal
2015-1692£72,500£14,128£14,021£2,345£893£103,888
2016-17137£136,596£22,626£24,679£3,414£2,301£189,617
2017-18183£149,531£20,449£24,382£3,607—£197,969
2018-19176£141,634£20,555£23,955£5,924—£192,068
2019-20180£154,589£17,353£23,342£4,918—£200,202
2020-21171£163,555£18,477£22,643£2,935—£207,611
2021-22148£170,607£20,689£24,222£5,180—£220,698
2022-23155£165,376£17,238£24,434£5,256—£212,303
2023-24166£182,232£22,279£25,819£6,911—£237,241
2024-25119£224,049£19,928£26,200£7,515—£277,692
2025-2654£9,817£7,478£1,860——£19,155

A year in which Mike Wood 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£159,779
Bought-in services12£7,840
Pooled staffing services1£2,988

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent1£13,193
Utilities19£1,622
Working From Home Allowance1£1,543
Equipment - purchase10£1,328
Mobile telephone - contract & usage16£813
Software & applications4£763

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent1£22,620
Utilities6£770
Council tax1£621
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage10£211

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Mileage - car2£4,066
Congestion charge & toll1£575
Air travel1£344
Rail3£152
Railcard1£30
Parking1£13

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£159,779£159,779
31 March 2022AccommodationRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22£22,620£22,620
31 March 2022Office CostsRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22£13,193£13,193
31 March 2022MP TravelMileage - carAggregated figure for travel during 2021-22£4,030£4,030
7 April 2021StaffingPooled staffing servicesPolicy Research Unit (Conservative)£2,988£2,988
31 March 2022Office CostsWorking From Home AllowanceAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22£1,543£1,543
22 October 2021StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£795£795
23 September 2021StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£795£795
15 December 2021StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£695£695
16 July 2021StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£695£695
16 April 2021StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£695£695
18 March 2021AccommodationCouncil taxWESTMINSTER CITY COUNC£621£621
15 April 2021Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES£600£600
17 March 2022StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£595£595
18 February 2022StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£595£595

Claims refused and money repaid, 2021-22

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £43 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 Mike Wood 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 Wood’s register of interests and votes · Sources