MPs’ business costs

Ben Lake

IPSA paid £1,466,088 against 882 published rows for Ben Lake between 2017-18 and 2025-26 as the member for Ceredigion CC, then Ceredigion Preseli 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, 2019-20

112 claims, £168,655 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	£146,863	87.1%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	91	£14,359	8.5%
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.	5	£1,050	0.6%
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.	12	£6,035	3.6%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	3	£348	0.2%

Every year in the register

Ben Lake’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.

Year	Claims	Staffing	Office costs	Accommodation	Travel	Miscellaneous	Total
2017-18	117	£71,636	£14,868	£8,966	£3,345	£467	£99,281
2018-19	136	£126,813	£14,608	£6,025	£5,128	£1,323	£153,897
2019-20	112	£146,863	£14,359	£1,050	£6,035	£348	£168,655
2020-21	65	£148,573	£17,931	—	£1,447	—	£167,951
2021-22	85	£165,981	£19,618	—	£2,994	—	£188,593
2022-23	104	£174,578	£18,818	—	£4,764	—	£198,161
2023-24	115	£207,862	£20,526	—	£2,887	—	£231,275
2024-25	114	£223,507	£19,005	—	£8,284	—	£250,796
2025-26	34	—	£7,479	—	—	—	£7,479

A year in which Ben Lake 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, 2019-20

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£146,863

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	4	£5,400
Equipment - hire	10	£1,787
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	10	£1,654
Stationery & printing	23	£1,593
Venue hire, meetings & surgeries	20	£715
Advertising and contact cards	4	£564

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Hotel - London	5	£1,050

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	3	£2,993
Mileage - car	5	£2,658
Hotel - UK Not London	1	£186
Hotel - London	1	£175
Other public transport	1	£14
Parking	1	£9

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Translation services (Welsh Language)	2	£228
Removals	1	£120

Largest claims, 2019-20

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 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£146,863	£146,863
31 March 2020	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2019-20	£2,183	£2,183
31 March 2020	MP Travel	Mileage - car	Aggregated figure for travel during 2019-20	£1,904	£1,904
15 January 2020	Office Costs	Rent	—	£1,800	£1,800
17 October 2019	Office Costs	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,800	£1,800
17 July 2019	Office Costs	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,800	£1,800
31 March 2020	Staff Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2019-20	£789	£789
20 March 2020	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Computer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories	£532	£532
31 March 2020	Staff Travel	Mileage - car	Aggregated figure for travel during 2019-20	£528	£528
5 November 2019	Office Costs	Software & applications	Annual hosting and support fee for Caseworker	£500	£500
10 April 2019	Office Costs	Hospitality	Tea, coffee and refreshments (x 75 people) for public meeting at Llandysul	£450	£450
1 January 2020	Office Costs	Equipment - hire	Printer, photocopier & scanner	£412	£412
22 September 2019	Office Costs	Equipment - hire	Printer, photocopier & scanner	£412	£412
4 February 2020	Accommodation	Hotel - London	[***]	£350	£350
3 October 2019	Office Costs	Insurance - contents	Office contents and employers liability insurance	£297	£297

Claims refused and money repaid, 2019-20

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £375 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 Ben Lake 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 · Ben Lake’s register of interests and votes · Sources