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, 2018-19

84 claims, £193,549 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	£163,017	84.2%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	79	£29,251	15.1%
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	£237	0.1%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	1	£1,044	0.5%

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, 2018-19

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£161,337
Professional Services (Staff.)	2	£1,680

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	11	£8,000
Professional Services	8	£7,280
Professional Services: Direct	1	£4,800
Advertising	3	£3,478
Stationery Purchase	36	£2,754
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	15	£1,624

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£237

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Removal Costs - Contingency	1	£1,044

Largest claims, 2018-19

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 2019	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year	£161,337	£161,337
1 April 2018	Office Costs	Professional Services: Direct	PRS	£4,800	£4,800
1 May 2018	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£3,000	£3,000
29 March 2019	Office Costs	Advertising	advertising Stationary	£1,800	£1,800
29 March 2019	Office Costs	Advertising	Letter	£1,464	£1,464
1 May 2018	Office Costs	Professional Services	Back Office Management	£1,400	£1,400
13 December 2018	Miscellaneous Expenses	Removal Costs - Contingency	Jan B'Card	£1,044	£1,044
8 March 2019	Staffing	Professional Services (Staff.)	Back office Management	£840	£840
1 March 2019	Staffing	Professional Services (Staff.)	Back office Management	£840	£840
1 January 2019	Office Costs	Professional Services	Back Office Management	£840	£840
1 December 2018	Office Costs	Professional Services	Back office Management	£840	£840
1 November 2018	Office Costs	Professional Services	back office Management	£840	£840
1 October 2018	Office Costs	Professional Services	Back office Management	£840	£840
1 September 2018	Office Costs	Professional Services	Back Office Management	£840	£840
1 August 2018	Office Costs	Professional Services	Back Office Management	£840	£840

Claims refused and money repaid, 2018-19

2 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £120 not paid and £0 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 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