MPs’ business costs

Caroline Nokes

IPSA paid £2,437,483 against 2,045 published rows for Caroline Nokes between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Romsey and Southampton North 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

127 claims, £202,885 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	£160,042	78.9%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	93	£11,854	5.8%
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.	18	£23,340	11.5%
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.	14	£7,650	3.8%

Every year in the register

Caroline Nokes’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	69	£51,219	£1,593	£17,000	£3,934	—	£73,747
2011-12	104	£80,080	£9,746	£12,712	£6,055	—	£108,594
2012-13	100	£85,480	£9,253	£16,911	£7,620	—	£119,263
2013-14	151	£70,808	£10,172	£12,891	£7,916	—	£101,786
2014-15	92	£99,684	£8,049	£14,343	£9,341	—	£131,417
2015-16	100	£140,478	£17,407	£17,695	£8,263	—	£183,843
2016-17	104	£113,793	£17,920	£21,769	£7,752	—	£161,235
2017-18	104	£115,941	£11,780	£20,624	£10,048	—	£158,393
2018-19	132	£107,713	£14,819	£19,017	£10,435	—	£151,984
2019-20	199	£142,772	£13,554	£14,690	£10,258	—	£181,274
2020-21	215	£149,225	£26,636	£17,021	£4,094	—	£196,976
2021-22	166	£146,747	£11,879	£23,666	£6,632	—	£188,923
2022-23	127	£160,042	£11,854	£23,340	£7,650	—	£202,885
2023-24	157	£169,532	£14,300	£15,398	£11,940	—	£211,170
2024-25	168	£187,823	£19,715	£19,290	£10,065	—	£236,893
2025-26	57	£9,768	£17,260	£1,791	—	£280	£29,099

A year in which Caroline Nokes 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	£156,954
Pooled staffing services	1	£3,088

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	16	£6,650
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	29	£1,522
Mobile telephone - contract & usage	14	£1,236
Website hosting and design	5	£1,059
Stationery & printing	15	£733
Working From Home Allowance	1	£312

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	12	£21,240
Council tax	1	£1,522
Utilities	5	£578

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Mileage - car	5	£4,852
Rail	3	£1,503
Parking	4	£766
Congestion charge & toll	1	£383
Other public transport	1	£146

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	£156,954	£156,954
28 April 2022	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Policy Research Unit (Conservative)	£3,088	£3,088
31 March 2023	MP Travel	Mileage - car	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£2,523	£2,523
21 March 2023	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,770	£1,770
21 February 2023	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,770	£1,770
19 January 2023	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,770	£1,770
20 December 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,770	£1,770
22 November 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,770	£1,770
20 October 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,770	£1,770
20 September 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,770	£1,770
23 August 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,770	£1,770
19 July 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,770	£1,770
21 June 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,770	£1,770
19 May 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,770	£1,770
19 April 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,770	£1,770

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 Caroline Nokes 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 · Caroline Nokes’s register of interests and votes · Sources