MPs’ business costs

Mims Davies

IPSA paid £1,918,996 against 1,048 published rows for Mims Davies between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Eastleigh BC, then Mid Sussex CC, then East Grinstead and Uckfield 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, 2015-16

98 claims, £113,031 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.	6	£79,969	70.7%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	56	£10,599	9.4%
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	£16,202	14.3%
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.	1	£1,885	1.7%
Starting up and winding up	The one-off costs of opening an office on election and of closing one on leaving. These fall in the years around a general election and are absent from the rest.	8	£4,377	3.9%

Every year in the register

Mims Davies’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.

Year	Claims	Staffing	Office costs	Accommodation	Travel	Starting up and winding up	Miscellaneous	Total
2015-16	98	£79,969	£10,599	£16,202	£1,885	£4,377	—	£113,031
2016-17	87	£138,759	£11,690	£14,248	£2,651	—	—	£167,347
2017-18	105	£131,734	£19,098	£15,257	£1,061	—	£200	£167,349
2018-19	110	£133,426	£19,366	£15,681	£1,423	—	—	£169,896
2019-20	128	£113,666	£17,265	£8,833	£3,415	£864	£7,859	£151,901
2020-21	91	£159,218	£28,853	—	£2,078	£14	—	£190,163
2021-22	69	£167,375	£27,339	—	£4,165	—	—	£198,879
2022-23	82	£171,846	£28,700	£3,215	£7,197	—	—	£210,957
2023-24	108	£217,432	£30,875	£3,235	£6,872	—	£930	£259,345
2024-25	106	£240,227	£23,197	£1,628	£9,516	—	—	£274,568
2025-26	64	£3,456	£8,421	£2,849	—	—	£833	£15,559

A year in which Mims Davies 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, 2015-16

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£79,378
Staff Training Costs	1	£439
Public Tr RAIL Volunteer - RT	2	£148
Food & Drink Volunteer	2	£5

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Professional Services: Direct	1	£2,685
Stationery Purchase	35	£2,457
Const Office Rent	5	£1,660
Computer SW Purchase	1	£1,062
Computer HW Purchase	1	£1,045
Legal Expenses Insurance	1	£657

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	6	£10,920
Hotel London Area	11	£4,229
Gas	3	£465
Council Tax	1	£392
Electricity	4	£111
Water	2	£85

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£1,885

Starting up and winding up

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Comp HW Purch StartUp	3	£2,606
Training for MP Staff StartUp	3	£1,518
Telephone Installation StartUp	1	£193
Tel/Mobile Purch StartUp	1	£60

Largest claims, 2015-16

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 2016	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year	£79,378	£79,378
16 October 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£3,120	£3,120
12 June 2015	Office Costs	Professional Services: Direct	PRU	£2,685	£2,685
31 March 2016	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2015-16	£1,885	£1,885
25 February 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,560	£1,560
27 January 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,560	£1,560
25 December 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,560	£1,560
25 November 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,560	£1,560
27 October 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,560	£1,560
12 June 2015	Office Costs	Computer SW Purchase	PRU	£1,062	£1,062
5 February 2016	Start Up	Comp HW Purch StartUp	JANUARY 2016 PAYMENT CARD	£1,050	£1,050
24 March 2016	Office Costs	Computer HW Purchase	MARCH PAYMENT CARD	£1,045	£1,045
6 November 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£996	£996
17 February 2016	Start Up	Comp HW Purch StartUp	JANUARY 2016 PAYMENT CARD	£778	£778
12 January 2016	Start Up	Comp HW Purch StartUp	JANUARY 2016 PAYMENT CARD	£778	£778

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 Mims Davies 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 · Mims Davies’s register of interests and votes · Sources