MPs’ business costs
Ruth Cadbury
IPSA paid £2,226,714 against 785 published rows for Ruth Cadbury between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Brentford and Isleworth 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, 2016-17
119 claims, £183,181 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. | 53 | £152,722 | 83.4% |
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 43 | £26,089 | 14.2% |
| 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. | 1 | £591 | 0.3% |
| 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. | 22 | £3,778 | 2.1% |
Every year in the register
Ruth Cadbury’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 | Travel | Starting up and winding up | Miscellaneous | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-16 | 161 | £128,902 | £22,888 | £134 | £1,293 | — | £153,217 |
| 2016-17 | 119 | £152,722 | £26,089 | £591 | £3,778 | — | £183,181 |
| 2017-18 | 48 | £159,820 | £20,601 | £59 | — | — | £180,480 |
| 2018-19 | 84 | £163,017 | £29,251 | £237 | — | £1,044 | £193,549 |
| 2019-20 | 54 | £165,237 | £26,484 | £39 | — | — | £191,759 |
| 2020-21 | 59 | £205,096 | £28,721 | — | — | — | £233,818 |
| 2021-22 | 50 | £217,676 | £28,655 | £704 | — | — | £247,035 |
| 2022-23 | 56 | £234,862 | £24,222 | £94 | — | — | £259,178 |
| 2023-24 | 77 | £252,459 | £29,188 | £1,081 | — | — | £282,728 |
| 2024-25 | 45 | £267,183 | £26,129 | £171 | — | — | £293,483 |
| 2025-26 | 32 | — | £8,287 | — | — | — | £8,287 |
A year in which Ruth Cadbury 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, 2016-17
The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.
Staffing
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll | 1 | £149,724 |
| Professional Services (Staff.) | 1 | £2,775 |
| Food & Drink Volunteer | 26 | £111 |
| Public Tr UND Volunteer | 22 | £105 |
| Public Tr BUS Volunteer | 3 | £8 |
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Const Office Rent | 7 | £12,442 |
| Professional Services: Direct | 1 | £4,800 |
| Professional Services | 2 | £3,750 |
| Stationery Purchase | 10 | £3,380 |
| Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental | 6 | £584 |
| Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting | 5 | £494 |
Travel
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Aggregated Travel Costs | 1 | £591 |
Starting up and winding up
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Other Equipment Purch StartUp | 14 | £2,490 |
| Office Furn Purch StartUp | 4 | £967 |
| Shredder Purch Startup | 1 | £170 |
| Tel/Mobile Purch StartUp | 2 | £141 |
| Internet Access Instal StartUp | 1 | £10 |
Largest claims, 2016-17
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 2017 | Staffing | Payroll | Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year | £149,724 | £149,724 |
| 4 November 2016 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | — | £6,501 | £6,501 |
| 17 April 2016 | Office Costs | Professional Services: Direct | PRS | £4,800 | £4,800 |
| 29 July 2016 | Office Costs | Professional Services | Web Site / data base - comms | £2,900 | £2,900 |
| 30 March 2017 | Staffing | Professional Services (Staff.) | Back Office | £2,775 | £2,775 |
| 25 November 2016 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | — | £1,867 | £1,867 |
| 6 May 2016 | Start Up | Other Equipment Purch StartUp | Guillotine | £1,189 | £1,189 |
| 6 May 2016 | Start Up | Other Equipment Purch StartUp | May B.Card | £1,150 | £1,150 |
| 24 February 2017 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | — | £1,018 | £1,018 |
| 25 January 2017 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | — | £1,018 | £1,018 |
| 20 December 2016 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | — | £1,018 | £1,018 |
| 8 March 2017 | Office Costs | Professional Services | Office costs paper venue hire | £850 | £850 |
| 25 November 2016 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | — | £849 | £849 |
| 31 March 2017 | Travel | Aggregated Travel Costs | Aggregated figure for travel during 2016-17 | £591 | £591 |
| 17 February 2017 | Office Costs | Stationery Purchase | Office costs paper venue hire | £552 | £552 |
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 Ruth Cadbury 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 · Ruth Cadbury’s register of interests and votes · Sources