MPs’ business costs

Dame Caroline Dinenage

IPSA paid £2,598,090 against 2,292 published rows for Dame Caroline Dinenage between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Gosport 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, 2019-20

120 claims, £183,961 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	£142,588	77.5%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	85	£21,330	11.6%
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.	14	£15,750	8.6%
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.	19	£4,293	2.3%

Every year in the register

Dame Caroline Dinenage’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2010-11 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
2010-11	129	£66,186	£9,925	£11,080	£5,169	—	£92,360
2011-12	236	£93,393	£14,913	£20,433	£5,033	£21	£133,794
2012-13	239	£104,070	£13,472	£19,436	£5,084	—	£142,061
2013-14	162	£97,477	£13,209	£14,250	£4,881	£234	£130,052
2014-15	123	£114,981	£12,765	£9,948	£4,586	—	£142,279
2015-16	115	£114,463	£17,444	£9,932	£3,953	—	£145,790
2016-17	134	£105,325	£15,035	£16,313	£5,822	—	£142,494
2017-18	111	£106,398	£20,647	£16,757	£4,808	—	£148,610
2018-19	135	£124,145	£20,317	£15,315	£4,893	—	£164,669
2019-20	120	£142,588	£21,330	£15,750	£4,293	—	£183,961
2020-21	144	£135,617	£29,367	£32,503	£1,363	—	£198,849
2021-22	120	£143,845	£18,073	£32,116	£4,262	—	£198,297
2022-23	150	£174,996	£19,813	£16,654	£3,688	—	£215,152
2023-24	153	£202,707	£25,643	£18,546	£4,842	—	£251,738
2024-25	150	£219,836	£29,870	£31,978	£4,044	—	£285,728
2025-26	71	—	£20,568	£1,688	—	—	£22,255

A year in which Dame Caroline Dinenage 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	£139,362
Pooled staffing services	1	£3,226

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	12	£7,169
Stationery & printing	19	£3,008
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	7	£2,830
Advertising and contact cards	3	£1,960
Software & applications	3	£1,509
Mobile telephone - contract & usage	15	£1,405

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	10	£14,181
Council tax	1	£1,044
Utilities	3	£526

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	3	£1,773
Mileage - car	4	£1,385
Parking	5	£590
Congestion charge & toll	2	£238
Other public transport	3	£169
Railcard	1	£135

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	£139,362	£139,362
15 May 2019	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Policy Research Unit (Conservative)	£3,226	£3,226
11 March 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,578	£2,578
15 January 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,289	£1,289
12 December 2019	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,289	£1,289
8 November 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,289	£1,289
10 October 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,289	£1,289
11 September 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,289	£1,289
8 August 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,289	£1,289
10 July 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,289	£1,289
8 June 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,289	£1,289
8 May 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,289	£1,289
25 March 2020	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Computer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories	£1,218	£1,218
3 April 2019	Accommodation	Council tax	Lambeth Council Tax [***]	£1,044	£1,044
11 October 2019	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	Calendar Cards	£978	£978

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 Dame Caroline Dinenage 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 · Dame Caroline Dinenage’s register of interests and votes · Sources