MPs’ business costs

Bambos Charalambous

IPSA paid £1,787,091 against 600 published rows for Bambos Charalambous between 2017-18 and 2025-26 as the member for Enfield, Southgate BC, then Southgate and Wood Green 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, 2018-19

94 claims, £190,481 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£163,15885.7%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.93£27,32314.3%

Every year in the register

Bambos Charalambous’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2017-18 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 costsTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2017-1840£108,614£19,420£122£128,156
2018-1994£163,158£27,323£190,481
2019-2086£166,657£28,133£245£2,082£197,117
2020-2160£191,433£29,770£52£2,000£223,255
2021-2278£199,390£32,348£445£232,183
2022-2361£216,543£25,941£242,484
2023-2475£252,868£34,279£354£287,501
2024-2557£237,549£31,719£269,268
2025-2649£16,646£16,646

A year in which Bambos Charalambous 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, 2018-19

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£163,158

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Const Office Rent5£13,151
Stationery Purchase30£3,258
Business Rates2£1,609
Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting8£1,477
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental8£1,476
Const Office Repairs2£1,463

Largest claims, 2018-19

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 2019StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year£163,158£163,158
17 December 2018Office CostsConst Office Rent£3,250£3,250
13 September 2018Office CostsConst Office Rent£3,250£3,250
19 June 2018Office CostsConst Office Rent£3,250£3,250
16 May 2018Office CostsConst Office Rent£3,250£3,250
5 October 2018Office CostsBusiness RatesPayment card reconciliation£1,535£1,535
25 May 2018Office CostsConst Office RepairsMay Payment Card£1,200£1,200
27 July 2018Office CostsStationery PurchaseXMA Ltd£766£766
23 April 2018Office CostsFurniture PurchaseApril payment card£660£660
25 June 2018Office CostsConst Office Tel. Usage/RentalPhone Line in constituency£531£531
19 June 2018Office CostsComputer SW PurchaseJuly Card Reconciliation£500£500
19 June 2018Office CostsVenue Hire Surgery/MeetingJuly Card Reconciliation£375£375
6 June 2018Office CostsStationery PurchaseXMA Ltd£325£325
18 October 2018Office CostsStationery PurchasePayment card reconciliation£324£324
25 April 2018Office CostsFurniture PurchaseApril payment card£317£317

Claims refused and money repaid, 2018-19

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £12 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 Bambos Charalambous 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 · Bambos Charalambous’s register of interests and votes · Sources