MPs’ business costs

Brendan O'Hara

IPSA paid £2,546,894 against 1,998 published rows for Brendan O'Hara between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Argyll and Bute CC, then Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber 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, 2022-23

188 claims, £299,060 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.	2	£208,831	69.8%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	110	£24,726	8.3%
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.	39	£22,063	7.4%
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.	37	£43,441	14.5%

Every year in the register

Brendan O'Hara’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2015-16 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	Starting up and winding up	Miscellaneous	Total
2015-16	119	£95,959	£12,733	£23,470	£38,443	£3,400	—	£174,006
2016-17	233	£141,315	£23,827	£25,460	£41,849	£2,599	—	£235,050
2017-18	229	£148,102	£19,722	£28,215	£25,610	—	—	£221,649
2018-19	207	£152,926	£21,931	£28,458	£44,580	—	—	£247,895
2019-20	214	£143,174	£21,430	£26,152	£28,056	—	—	£218,812
2020-21	167	£155,008	£20,691	£19,737	£5,186	—	—	£200,622
2021-22	160	£185,949	£18,815	£21,477	£25,251	—	—	£251,492
2022-23	188	£208,831	£24,726	£22,063	£43,441	—	—	£299,060
2023-24	222	£229,940	£26,918	£25,319	£42,500	—	—	£324,678
2024-25	185	£250,784	£21,163	£28,871	£55,978	—	£1,199	£357,995
2025-26	74	—	£14,385	£1,250	—	—	—	£15,635

A year in which Brendan O'Hara 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, 2022-23

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£197,284
Pooled staffing services	1	£11,547

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	12	£5,400
Mobile telephone - contract & usage	14	£4,054
Equipment - purchase	15	£3,217
Bought-in services	3	£2,472
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	12	£1,888
Utilities	11	£1,647

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	11	£19,887
Council tax	9	£1,436
Utilities	19	£741

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Air travel	6	£27,193
Hotel - London	1	£5,606
Mileage - car	6	£3,568
Parking	5	£2,886
Rail	5	£1,724
Hotel - UK Not London	2	£832

Largest claims, 2022-23

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 2023	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year	£197,284	£197,284
31 March 2023	MP Travel	Air travel	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£20,274	£20,274
9 May 2022	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Scottish National Party Research Team (SNP)	£11,547	£11,547
31 March 2023	Staff Travel	Hotel - London	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£5,606	£5,606
31 March 2023	Staff Travel	Air travel	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£5,359	£5,359
31 March 2023	MP Travel	Parking	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£2,733	£2,733
9 August 2022	Office Costs	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£2,205	£2,205
18 May 2022	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Computer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories	£2,160	£2,160
7 March 2023	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,900	£1,900
7 February 2023	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,900	£1,900
10 January 2023	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,900	£1,900
6 December 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,900	£1,900
8 November 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,900	£1,900
4 October 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,900	£1,900
6 September 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,900	£1,900

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 Brendan O'Hara 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 · Brendan O'Hara’s register of interests and votes · Sources