MPs’ business costs
Rachel Blake
IPSA paid £189,884 against 147 published rows for Rachel Blake between 2024-25 and 2025-26 as the member for Cities of London and Westminster 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, 2024-25
106 claims, £173,073 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. | 3 | £159,109 | 91.9% |
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 103 | £13,963 | 8.1% |
Every year in the register
Rachel Blake’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2024-25 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 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 106 | £159,109 | £13,963 | £173,073 |
| 2025-26 | 41 | — | £16,812 | £16,812 |
A year in which Rachel Blake 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, 2024-25
The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.
Staffing
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll | 1 | £157,752 |
| Training - staff | 2 | £1,357 |
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Stationery & printing | 73 | £5,195 |
| Pooled staffing services | 2 | £3,176 |
| Software & applications | 2 | £2,040 |
| Training - staff | 2 | £1,620 |
| Venue hire, meetings & surgeries | 13 | £1,136 |
| Advertising and contact cards | 3 | £471 |
Largest claims, 2024-25
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 2025 | Staffing | Payroll | Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year | £157,752 | £157,752 |
| 3 October 2024 | Office Costs | Pooled staffing services | Parliamentary Research Service (Labour) | £3,000 | £3,000 |
| 12 August 2024 | Office Costs | Software & applications | ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES | £1,440 | £1,440 |
| 26 March 2025 | Office Costs | Training - staff | REAL CLEAR [200011725-7958] | £900 | £900 |
| 23 October 2024 | Staffing | Training - staff | PAYPAL PARLITRAINI | £877 | £877 |
| 19 March 2025 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | AMAZON [***] [200011725-6685] | £747 | £747 |
| 14 March 2025 | Office Costs | Training - staff | Training morning from external provider - expense to be paid to them via bank transfer | £720 | £720 |
| 23 October 2024 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | Banner November 2024 | £638 | £638 |
| 12 August 2024 | Office Costs | Software & applications | ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES | £600 | £600 |
| 11 October 2024 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | Banner November 2024 | £546 | £546 |
| 11 October 2024 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | Banner November 2024 | £546 | £546 |
| 11 October 2024 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | Banner November 2024 | £546 | £546 |
| 27 September 2024 | Staffing | Training - staff | Facilitation and external training for team session. For whole team, but IPSA requires that this is allocated to one person only. | £480 | £480 |
| 23 October 2024 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | Banner November 2024 | £445 | £445 |
| 4 February 2025 | Office Costs | Advertising and contact cards | THE COLOR COMPANY TM | £185 | £185 |
Claims refused and money repaid, 2024-25
1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £150 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 Rachel Blake 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 · Rachel Blake’s register of interests and votes · Sources