MPs’ business costs

Stephen Kinnock

IPSA paid £2,177,284 against 1,361 published rows for Stephen Kinnock between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Aberavon CC, then Aberafan Maesteg 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, 2015-16

145 claims, £142,269 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.	1	£107,112	75.3%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	108	£19,265	13.5%
Accommodation	The 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.	11	£5,032	3.5%
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	£6,278	4.4%
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.	24	£4,582	3.2%

Every year in the register

Stephen Kinnock’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	Accommodation	Travel	Starting up and winding up	Miscellaneous	Total
2015-16	145	£107,112	£19,265	£5,032	£6,278	£4,582	—	£142,269
2016-17	106	£119,922	£19,461	£3,962	£7,519	—	—	£150,864
2017-18	124	£132,907	£21,856	£4,590	£4,503	—	—	£163,856
2018-19	143	£153,247	£23,250	£19,708	£10,116	—	£269	£206,590
2019-20	136	£149,418	£22,997	£22,848	£9,142	—	—	£204,405
2020-21	113	£168,584	£20,137	£22,848	£1,927	—	—	£213,497
2021-22	118	£161,150	£22,560	£22,725	£3,959	—	—	£210,394
2022-23	162	£212,464	£25,112	£22,848	£7,676	—	—	£268,100
2023-24	156	£235,783	£25,187	£26,832	£7,154	—	—	£294,956
2024-25	109	£247,551	£26,071	£29,290	£8,773	—	—	£311,684
2025-26	49	£660	£10,011	—	—	—	—	£10,671

A year in which Stephen Kinnock 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, 2015-16

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£107,112

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	11	£10,940
Stationery Purchase	32	£2,514
Advertising	7	£1,533
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	7	£1,213
Legal Expenses Insurance	1	£657
Other	4	£386

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	10	£4,093
Council Tax	1	£940

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£6,278

Starting up and winding up

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Office Furn Purch StartUp	15	£1,432
Comp HW Purch StartUp	2	£1,419
Comp SW Purch StartUp	1	£1,000
Office Alterations StartUp	2	£504
Telephone Installation StartUp	1	£90
Tel/Mobile Purch StartUp	1	£70

Largest claims, 2015-16

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 2016	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year	£107,112	£107,112
31 March 2016	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2015-16	£6,278	£6,278
5 October 2015	Start Up	Comp HW Purch StartUp	Credit Card October	£1,083	£1,083
4 February 2016	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,022	£1,022
4 January 2016	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,022	£1,022
4 December 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,022	£1,022
3 November 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,022	£1,022
2 October 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,022	£1,022
4 September 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,022	£1,022
4 August 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,022	£1,022
7 July 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,022	£1,022
16 June 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,022	£1,022
12 June 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,022	£1,022
30 November 2015	Start Up	Comp SW Purch StartUp	December Credit Card	£1,000	£1,000
8 May 2015	Accommodation	Council Tax	Council Tax 2015/16	£940	£940

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 Kinnock 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 Kinnock’s register of interests and votes · Sources