MPs’ business costs

Stephanie Peacock

IPSA paid £1,806,458 against 1,024 published rows for Stephanie Peacock between 2017-18 and 2025-26 as the member for Barnsley East CC, then Barnsley South CC. 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, 2023-24

122 claims, £276,844 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.2£221,91080.2%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.87£24,8329.0%
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.23£23,2948.4%
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.10£6,8082.5%

Every year in the register

Stephanie Peacock’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2017-18 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 costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2017-18129£98,089£23,605£14,505£3,859£140,059
2018-19165£153,614£22,090£16,814£7,669£200,188
2019-20161£149,319£21,701£15,406£8,189£194,614
2020-2187£157,359£19,317£16,636£3,693£197,005
2021-2288£182,872£32,314£16,683£7,705£540£240,114
2022-23117£214,993£26,153£18,800£7,313£267,260
2023-24122£221,910£24,832£23,294£6,808£276,844
2024-25109£229,510£22,491£23,024£6,472£281,496
2025-2646£7,561£1,318£8,879

A year in which Stephanie Peacock 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, 2023-24

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£221,160
Training - staff1£750

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent12£10,500
Pooled staffing services1£4,500
Utilities12£3,546
Equipment - purchase11£1,542
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage11£1,337
Software & applications15£970

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent13£21,733
Utilities9£999
Council tax1£562

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail2£3,560
Mileage - car3£1,427
Hotel - London1£1,195
Parking3£461
Congestion charge & toll1£165

Largest claims, 2023-24

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 2024StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year£221,160£221,160
28 April 2023Office CostsPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£4,500£4,500
31 March 2024MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2023-24£3,141£3,141
2 April 2024AccommodationRent£1,800£1,800
5 March 2024AccommodationRent£1,800£1,800
1 February 2024AccommodationRent£1,800£1,800
5 January 2024AccommodationRent£1,800£1,800
5 December 2023AccommodationRent£1,800£1,800
1 November 2023AccommodationRent£1,800£1,800
3 October 2023AccommodationRent£1,800£1,800
5 September 2023AccommodationRent£1,800£1,800
1 August 2023AccommodationRent£1,800£1,800
4 July 2023AccommodationRent£1,800£1,800
1 June 2023AccommodationRent£1,800£1,800
2 May 2023AccommodationRent£1,800£1,800

Claims refused and money repaid, 2023-24

2 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £330 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 Stephanie Peacock 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 · Stephanie Peacock’s register of interests and votes · Sources