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, 2021-22

69 claims, £198,879 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.4£167,37584.2%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.55£27,33913.7%
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.10£4,1652.1%

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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelStarting up and winding upMiscellaneousTotal
2015-1698£79,969£10,599£16,202£1,885£4,377£113,031
2016-1787£138,759£11,690£14,248£2,651£167,347
2017-18105£131,734£19,098£15,257£1,061£200£167,349
2018-19110£133,426£19,366£15,681£1,423£169,896
2019-20128£113,666£17,265£8,833£3,415£864£7,859£151,901
2020-2191£159,218£28,853£2,078£14£190,163
2021-2269£167,375£27,339£4,165£198,879
2022-2382£171,846£28,700£3,215£7,197£210,957
2023-24108£217,432£30,875£3,235£6,872£930£259,345
2024-25106£240,227£23,197£1,628£9,516£274,568
2025-2664£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, 2021-22

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£158,867
Bought-in services2£5,520
Pooled staffing services1£2,988

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent1£15,700
Stationery & printing19£3,002
Service charge & ground Rent4£2,016
Utilities7£1,495
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs3£1,008
Working From Home Allowance1£945

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail4£3,530
Hotel - late night1£415
Parking3£165
Railcard1£30
Congestion charge & toll1£25

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£158,867£158,867
31 March 2022Office CostsRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22£15,700£15,700
31 March 2022MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2021-22£3,407£3,407
7 April 2021StaffingPooled staffing servicesPolicy Research Unit (Conservative)£2,988£2,988
31 March 2021StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£2,880£2,880
24 March 2022StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£2,640£2,640
31 March 2021Office CostsStationery & printingPrinter cartridges£1,363£1,363
31 March 2022Office CostsWorking From Home AllowanceAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22£945£945
24 March 2022Office CostsStationery & printingPrinter cartridges£715£715
21 March 2022Office CostsService charge & ground RentConstituency office service charge Jan to March 2022£666£666
21 March 2022Office CostsMaintenance, Redecorations & RepairsRepair/replace office lights£641£641
29 January 2022Office CostsSoftware & applicationsCaseworker MP Database£600£600
21 March 2022Office CostsUtilitiesElectricity£468£468
21 September 2021Office CostsInsurance - buildingsConstituency Office Landlord insurance 12 months Oct21-Sept22£468£468
15 December 2021Office CostsService charge & ground RentConstituency office service charge Oct to Dec 2021£450£450

Claims refused and money repaid, 2021-22

3 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £128 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 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