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, 2021-22

76 claims, £231,401 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.1£207,26589.6%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.74£24,10610.4%
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.1£300.0%

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, 2021-22

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£207,265

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent5£12,480
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage24£3,448
Working From Home Allowance1£1,556
Utilities13£1,067
Equipment - hire4£1,048
Cleaning services4£879

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Taxi1£30

Largest claims, 2021-22

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 2022StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year£207,265£207,265
1 March 2022Office CostsRent£3,120£3,120
2 December 2021Office CostsRent£3,120£3,120
2 September 2021Office CostsRentRent£3,120£3,120
1 June 2021Office CostsRent£3,120£3,120
31 March 2022Office CostsWorking From Home AllowanceAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22£1,556£1,556
31 March 2021Office CostsStationery & printingVIKING UK£613£613
10 August 2021Office CostsSoftware & applicationsAnnual support fee for Caseworker£600£600
10 February 2022Office CostsInsurance - contentsInsurance Feb 2022-January 2023£583£583
13 September 2021Office CostsLandline phone & internet - rental & usageLandline£346£346
9 December 2021Office CostsEquipment - purchaseOther office equipment£332£332
9 December 2021Office CostsWaste disposal, confidential waste & rubbish collectionRecycling and trade waste bags£331£331
9 December 2021Office CostsCleaning servicesCleaning Sep-November£300£300
30 March 2022Office CostsEquipment - hireOther office equipment£262£262
9 December 2021Office CostsEquipment - hireOther office equipment£262£262

Claims refused and money repaid, 2021-22

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £2,000 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