MPs’ business costs
Alistair Strathern
IPSA paid £405,706 against 295 published rows for Alistair Strathern between 2023-24 and 2025-26 as the member for Mid Bedfordshire CC, then Hitchin 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, 2025-26
63 claims, £25,076 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. | 62 | £23,711 | 94.6% |
| Miscellaneous | Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19. | 1 | £1,364 | 5.4% |
Every year in the register
Alistair Strathern’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2023-24 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 | Miscellaneous | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-24 | 87 | £64,572 | £19,537 | — | £1,051 | — | £85,160 |
| 2024-25 | 145 | £247,781 | £35,910 | £6,794 | £4,814 | £171 | £295,470 |
| 2025-26 | 63 | — | £23,711 | — | — | £1,364 | £25,076 |
A year in which Alistair Strathern 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Advertising and contact cards | 3 | £4,421 |
| Stationery & printing | 18 | £3,816 |
| Software & applications | 6 | £3,475 |
| Insurance - buildings | 1 | £3,137 |
| Postage & couriers | 2 | £3,101 |
| Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs | 1 | £2,034 |
Miscellaneous
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs | 1 | £1,364 |
Largest claims, 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.
| Date | Category | Cost type | Description | Claimed | Paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 July 2025 | Office Costs | Advertising and contact cards | Constituency wide leaflet | £3,283 | £3,283 |
| 14 July 2025 | Office Costs | Insurance - buildings | Buildings Insurance June 2025-26 | £3,137 | £3,137 |
| 25 July 2025 | Office Costs | Postage & couriers | ROYAL MAIL DOOR TO DOO | £2,879 | £2,879 |
| 12 November 2025 | Office Costs | Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs | Outside refurbishment of office | £2,034 | £2,034 |
| 15 October 2025 | Office Costs | Software & applications | ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES | £1,476 | £1,476 |
| 24 February 2026 | Miscellaneous | Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs | HVAC Repair | £1,364 | £1,364 |
| 8 December 2025 | Office Costs | Advertising and contact cards | Office signage | £860 | £860 |
| 8 February 2026 | Office Costs | Software & applications | ADOBE ADOBE | £774 | £774 |
| 3 February 2026 | Office Costs | Utilities | Electricity | £598 | £598 |
| 8 February 2025 | Office Costs | Software & applications | ADOBE ADOBE [200011805-72] | £563 | £563 |
| 11 June 2025 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | XMA July 2025 | £498 | £498 |
| 16 October 2024 | Office Costs | Software & applications | ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES [200011805-71] | £422 | £422 |
| 19 May 2025 | Office Costs | Software & applications | ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES | £360 | £360 |
| 14 July 2025 | Office Costs | Business rates | NORTH HERTFORDSHIRE | £320 | £320 |
| 10 March 2026 | Office Costs | Advertising and contact cards | Surgery advert - Comet | £278 | £278 |
Claims refused and money repaid, 2025-26
4 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £1,471 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 Alistair Strathern 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 · Alistair Strathern’s register of interests and votes · Sources