MPs’ business costs
Stephen Doughty
IPSA paid £2,632,640 against 1,331 published rows for Stephen Doughty between 2012-13 and 2025-26 as the member for Cardiff South and Penarth 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, 2025-26
10 claims, £3,922 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 10 | £3,922 | 100.0% |
Every year in the register
Stephen Doughty’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2012-13 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 | Accommodation | Travel | Starting up and winding up | Miscellaneous | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012-13 | 80 | £33,142 | £6,799 | £7,536 | £2,617 | £4,318 | — | £54,411 |
| 2013-14 | 157 | £134,633 | £21,866 | £19,322 | £6,878 | £1,570 | £425 | £184,693 |
| 2014-15 | 125 | £137,166 | £22,871 | £15,540 | £7,583 | — | — | £183,160 |
| 2015-16 | 83 | £134,499 | £23,040 | £10,055 | £6,402 | — | £773 | £174,770 |
| 2016-17 | 92 | £141,211 | £22,791 | £17,691 | £5,929 | — | £150 | £187,771 |
| 2017-18 | 78 | £148,393 | £20,013 | £19,606 | £7,321 | — | — | £195,334 |
| 2018-19 | 95 | £152,153 | £23,340 | £21,686 | £10,930 | — | £234 | £208,343 |
| 2019-20 | 121 | £155,785 | £19,550 | £18,968 | £9,407 | — | — | £203,710 |
| 2020-21 | 115 | £178,442 | £26,095 | £23,211 | £3,622 | — | — | £231,370 |
| 2021-22 | 76 | £169,774 | £12,458 | £22,893 | £3,170 | — | — | £208,296 |
| 2022-23 | 98 | £198,594 | £8,651 | £10,271 | £7,130 | — | — | £224,646 |
| 2023-24 | 118 | £233,800 | £19,324 | £13,527 | £10,421 | — | £247 | £277,319 |
| 2024-25 | 83 | £242,313 | £18,713 | £22,686 | £10,614 | — | £567 | £294,894 |
| 2025-26 | 10 | — | £3,922 | — | — | — | — | £3,922 |
A year in which Stephen Doughty 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, 2025-26
The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Software & applications | 4 | £1,873 |
| Training - staff | 1 | £594 |
| Equipment - purchase | 1 | £506 |
| Mobile telephone - equipment purchase | 1 | £381 |
| Translation services - other languages | 1 | £328 |
| TV licence | 1 | £175 |
Largest claims, 2025-26
The 10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 May 2025 | Office Costs | Software & applications | ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES | £1,476 | £1,476 |
| 16 February 2026 | Office Costs | Training - staff | CAUSEWAYCREATIVE.CO.UK | £594 | £594 |
| 8 May 2025 | Office Costs | Equipment - purchase | Office furniture | £506 | £506 |
| 17 October 2025 | Office Costs | Mobile telephone - equipment purchase | BACK MARKET | £381 | £381 |
| 17 October 2025 | Office Costs | Translation services - other languages | Interpreter/translator for constituency meeting | £328 | £328 |
| 18 June 2025 | Office Costs | TV licence | TVLICENSING.CO.UK | £175 | £175 |
| 14 January 2026 | Office Costs | Software & applications | KAPWING PRO PLAN | £147 | £147 |
| 14 January 2025 | Office Costs | Software & applications | KAPWING PRO PLAN [200011800-74] | £129 | £129 |
| 17 May 2024 | Office Costs | Software & applications | ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES [200011800-72] | £120 | £120 |
| 27 May 2025 | Office Costs | Translation services (Welsh Language) | Translation of MP news for website | £66 | £66 |
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 Stephen Doughty 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 · Stephen Doughty’s register of interests and votes · Sources