MPs’ business costs

Sarah Olney

IPSA paid £1,452,363 against 1,531 published rows for Sarah Olney between 2016-17 and 2025-26 as the member for Richmond Park 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

4 claims, £22,116 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.	2	£21,133	95.6%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	2	£982	4.4%

Every year in the register

Sarah Olney’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2016-17 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
2016-17	4	£21,133	£982	—	—	—	£22,116
2017-18	19	£23,014	£291	—	£25,066	£304	£48,675
2019-20	71	£30,068	£8,156	—	—	—	£38,224
2020-21	184	£197,339	£38,320	£193	—	£847	£236,699
2021-22	148	£210,950	£32,047	£504	—	—	£243,500
2022-23	263	£236,517	£31,199	£421	—	—	£268,137
2023-24	393	£250,885	£33,122	£426	—	—	£284,433
2024-25	396	£266,103	£32,399	£228	—	—	£298,730
2025-26	53	—	£11,850	—	—	—	£11,850

A year in which Sarah Olney 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	£19,467
Pooled Services: Direct	1	£1,667

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Computer SW Purchase	1	£850
Stationery Purchase	1	£132

Largest claims, 2016-17

The 4 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	£19,467	£19,467
19 January 2017	Staffing	Pooled Services: Direct	PST	£1,667	£1,667
28 February 2017	Office Costs	Computer SW Purchase	Caseworker.MP software	£850	£850
9 February 2017	Office Costs	Stationery Purchase	Commercial	£132	£132

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 Sarah Olney 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 · Sarah Olney’s register of interests and votes · Sources