MPs’ business costs

Steve Reed

IPSA paid £2,513,608 against 1,134 published rows for Steve Reed between 2012-13 and 2025-26 as the member for Croydon North BC, then Streatham and Croydon North 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, 2012-13 to 2025-26

1,134 claims, £2,513,608 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.28£2,177,87186.6%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.1,087£326,62113.0%
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.8£1,1420.0%
Starting up and winding upThe 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.8£4,4880.2%
MiscellaneousClaims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.3£3,4860.1%

Every year in the register

Steve Reed’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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsTravelStarting up and winding upMiscellaneousTotal
2012-1375£33,387£2,192£35,579
2013-14159£141,696£24,882£4,488£171,066
2014-15105£142,011£23,366£54£165,431
2015-1691£143,005£25,308£72£168,385
2016-1778£145,250£25,441£21£170,712
2017-1873£156,682£22,521£29£179,231
2018-1961£160,592£24,562£185,154
2019-2065£163,954£24,223£160£188,337
2020-2180£195,716£27,463£333£223,512
2021-2276£207,265£24,106£30£231,401
2022-2392£194,785£28,135£1,440£224,360
2023-2485£234,582£26,496£444£261,522
2024-2559£257,111£35,994£2,046£295,150
2025-2635£1,837£11,932£13,769

A year in which Steve Reed 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, 2012-13 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll13£2,150,686
Professional Services (Staff.)1£12,062
Pooled staffing services2£9,100
Training - staff10£4,906
Practice Liability Insurance1£578
Staff Training Costs1£540

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent25£83,572
Const Office Rent32£70,566
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage156£28,739
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental130£19,501
Stationery Purchase253£13,961
Stationery & printing53£13,612

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail1£444
Congestion charge & toll1£333
Taxi2£190
Aggregated Travel Costs4£175

Starting up and winding up

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Office Furn Purch StartUp3£2,473
Printer Purchase StartUp1£901
Comp HW Purch StartUp1£827
Office Alterations StartUp1£246
Install Office Equip. StartUp1£20
Install Office Equip. StartUp1£20

Miscellaneous

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Removals2£2,046
IPSA RICS Valuation1£1,440

Largest claims, 2012-13 to 2025-26

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 2025StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year£252,511£252,511
31 March 2024StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year£228,378£228,378
31 March 2022StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year£207,265£207,265
31 March 2021StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year£195,101£195,101
31 March 2023StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year£194,035£194,035
31 March 2020StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year£163,954£163,954
31 March 2019StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year£160,052£160,052
31 March 2018StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year£156,682£156,682
31 March 2017StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year£145,250£145,250
31 March 2016StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2015-16 year£143,005£143,005
31 March 2015StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2014-15 year£141,433£141,433
31 March 2014StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2013-14 year£129,634£129,634
31 March 2013StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2012-13 year£33,387£33,387
31 March 2025Office CostsRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£21,172£21,172
4 September 2013StaffingProfessional Services (Staff.)RSA Research£12,062£12,062

Claims refused and money repaid, 2012-13 to 2025-26

7 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £11,679 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 Steve Reed 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 · Steve Reed’s register of interests and votes · Sources