MPs’ business costs

Rebecca Long Bailey

IPSA paid £1,996,016 against 1,534 published rows for Rebecca Long Bailey between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Salford and Eccles BC, then Salford 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, 2022-23

149 claims, £240,451 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.8£197,34682.1%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.122£21,7859.1%
AccommodationThe 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.15£17,4237.2%
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.4£3,8981.6%

Every year in the register

Rebecca Long Bailey’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 upTotal
2015-16130£105,655£17,151£8,903£4,696£4,920£141,323
2016-17124£123,997£22,950£10,200£5,470£162,617
2017-18117£130,930£18,948£10,200£4,232£164,310
2018-19130£147,971£21,022£10,292£5,123£184,408
2019-20197£143,659£22,323£13,522£5,011£184,515
2020-21147£151,629£17,845£5,544£2,285£177,303
2021-22138£172,239£21,720£4,993£2,753£201,705
2022-23149£197,346£21,785£17,423£3,898£240,451
2023-24179£217,323£25,823£20,660£4,707£268,513
2024-25168£210,241£23,964£21,256£6,174£261,636
2025-2655£9,234£9,234

A year in which Rebecca Long Bailey 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, 2022-23

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£190,346
Bought-in services7£7,000

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent12£6,600
Pooled staffing services4£4,200
Utilities33£3,170
Waste disposal, confidential waste & rubbish collection13£1,929
Cleaning services9£1,296
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs4£1,227

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent12£16,896
Hotel - London2£487
Utilities1£40

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail2£3,663
Hotel - London1£198
Other public transport1£37

Largest claims, 2022-23

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 2023StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year£190,346£190,346
31 March 2023MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2022-23£3,565£3,565
28 February 2023AccommodationRent£1,500£1,500
26 January 2023AccommodationRent£1,500£1,500
27 December 2022AccommodationRent£1,500£1,500
25 November 2022AccommodationRent£1,500£1,500
26 October 2022AccommodationRent£1,500£1,500
27 September 2022AccommodationRent£1,500£1,500
25 August 2022AccommodationRent£1,500£1,500
26 July 2022AccommodationRent£1,500£1,500
28 June 2022AccommodationRent£1,500£1,500
26 May 2022AccommodationRent£1,500£1,500
26 April 2022AccommodationRent£1,500£1,500
22 March 2023Office CostsPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£1,050£1,050
22 March 2023Office CostsPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£1,050£1,050

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 Rebecca Long Bailey 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 · Rebecca Long Bailey’s register of interests and votes · Sources