MPs’ business costs

Neil Coyle

IPSA paid £1,967,824 against 1,075 published rows for Neil Coyle between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark 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, 2021-22

103 claims, £232,407 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.5£206,45988.8%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.96£25,85911.1%
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.2£890.0%

Every year in the register

Neil Coyle’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 costsTravelStarting up and winding upMiscellaneousTotal
2015-1656£115,641£18,713£4,904£139,259
2016-1780£143,250£24,823£168,073
2017-18101£150,913£22,459£173,372
2018-19120£159,696£24,144£183,841
2019-20115£161,043£19,069£292£180,404
2020-2194£193,038£27,014£158£3,298£223,508
2021-22103£206,459£25,859£89£232,407
2022-23115£151,119£30,682£4,970£186,771
2023-2499£174,799£30,144£39£204,983
2024-25115£213,902£32,918£246,820
2025-2677£1,125£26,949£314£28,388

A year in which Neil Coyle 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£202,259
Pooled staffing services4£4,200

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent1£15,544
Utilities12£2,275
Working From Home Allowance1£2,075
Equipment - purchase16£1,694
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage12£1,410
Cleaning services29£906

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail1£46
Taxi1£43

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£202,259£202,259
31 March 2022Office CostsRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22£15,544£15,544
31 March 2022Office CostsWorking From Home AllowanceAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22£2,075£2,075
31 March 2021Office CostsEquipment - purchaseComputer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories£1,288£1,288
3 February 2022StaffingPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£1,050£1,050
18 December 2021StaffingPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£1,050£1,050
6 August 2021StaffingPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£1,050£1,050
16 April 2021StaffingPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£1,050£1,050
21 July 2021Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES£600£600
27 July 2021Office CostsMaintenance, Redecorations & RepairsConstituency office shutter repairs£500£500
15 February 2022Office CostsUtilitiesElectricity£350£350
30 March 2021Office CostsUtilitiesElectricity£331£331
16 March 2022Office CostsMaintenance, Redecorations & RepairsConstituency office plumbing repairs£294£294
15 December 2021Office CostsUtilitiesElectricity£264£264
26 May 2021Office CostsUtilitiesElectricity£235£235

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 Neil Coyle 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 · Neil Coyle’s register of interests and votes · Sources