MPs’ business costs

Peter Kyle

IPSA paid £2,145,896 against 1,047 published rows for Peter Kyle between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Hove BC, then Hove and Portslade 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, 2015-16 to 2025-26

1,047 claims, £2,145,896 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.	418	£1,703,853	79.4%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	489	£285,864	13.3%
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.	68	£125,362	5.8%
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.	41	£18,616	0.9%
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.	25	£6,153	0.3%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	6	£6,048	0.3%

Every year in the register

Peter Kyle’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	59	£106,853	£19,553	—	£1,298	£5,815	—	£133,520
2016-17	80	£136,814	£23,450	—	£1,253	£338	—	£161,855
2017-18	64	£134,071	£24,150	£8,486	£1,412	—	—	£168,119
2018-19	104	£142,035	£25,189	£15,043	£1,838	—	£1,425	£185,529
2019-20	133	£149,858	£26,243	£14,300	£2,143	—	—	£192,544
2020-21	89	£172,710	£32,055	£15,600	£353	—	—	£220,719
2021-22	120	£186,474	£29,536	£15,778	£4,869	—	—	£236,657
2022-23	172	£217,681	£27,870	£16,200	£2,302	—	—	£264,053
2023-24	98	£233,210	£30,583	£16,200	£1,528	—	£2,017	£283,537
2024-25	67	£202,745	£32,540	£23,755	£1,619	—	£1,440	£262,101
2025-26	61	£21,402	£14,694	—	—	—	£1,166	£37,262

A year in which Peter Kyle 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 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	10	£1,571,061
Bought-in services	99	£103,519
Professional Services (Staff.)	15	£11,732
Volunteer - agreed arrangement costs	203	£9,904
Public Tr UND Volunteer	25	£3,554
Working From Home Allowance	2	£2,038

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	16	£100,050
Const Office Rent	8	£41,441
Const Office Rent 2	2	£21,368
Business rates	12	£17,636
Business Rates	6	£15,966
Cleaning services	48	£15,090

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	49	£101,833
Accommodation Rent	18	£23,145
Service Charges	1	£384

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	15	£7,250
Aggregated Travel Costs	4	£5,801
Parking	4	£2,173
Air travel	3	£1,880
Hotel - UK Not London	2	£497
Railcard	5	£460

Starting up and winding up

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Office Alterations StartUp	3	£2,714
Office Furn Purch StartUp	10	£1,298
Comp HW Purch StartUp	3	£914
Comp SW Purch StartUp	2	£447
Training for MP Staff StartUp	1	£398
Recruitment StartUp	3	£380

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs	2	£3,183
Bought-in services	1	£1,440
Contingency	2	£1,297
Removal Costs - Contingency	1	£128

Largest claims, 2015-16 to 2025-26

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 2024	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year	£213,846	£213,846
31 March 2023	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year	£196,530	£196,530
31 March 2025	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year	£182,760	£182,760
31 March 2022	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£171,563	£171,563
31 March 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£165,684	£165,684
31 March 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£138,199	£138,199
31 March 2017	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year	£136,116	£136,116
31 March 2019	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year	£135,806	£135,806
31 March 2018	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year	£127,786	£127,786
31 March 2016	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year	£102,772	£102,772
31 March 2025	Accommodation	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25	£23,755	£23,755
31 March 2022	Accommodation	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£15,778	£15,778
6 April 2018	Office Costs	Const Office Rent 2	Backdated Rent Increase	£14,368	£14,368
1 February 2016	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	Cons. Office Rent May-Dec 2015	£11,423	£11,423
9 June 2016	Office Costs	Business Rates	Business Rates	£7,186	£7,186

Claims refused and money repaid, 2015-16 to 2025-26

6 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £1,290 not paid and £153 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 Peter Kyle 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 · Peter Kyle’s register of interests and votes · Sources