MPs’ business costs

Cat Smith

IPSA paid £2,093,490 against 1,234 published rows for Cat Smith between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Lancaster and Fleetwood CC, then Lancaster and Wyre 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, 2016-17

105 claims, £171,738 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.	5	£136,225	79.3%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	96	£20,676	12.0%
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.	1	£8,901	5.2%
Starting up and winding up	The one-off costs of opening an office on election and of closing one on leaving. These fall in the years around a general election and are absent from the rest.	3	£5,935	3.5%

Every year in the register

Cat Smith’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	88	£119,778	£20,079	—	£8,922	£65	—	£148,843
2016-17	105	£136,225	£20,676	—	£8,901	£5,935	—	£171,738
2017-18	123	£139,097	£16,046	—	£6,896	—	—	£162,040
2018-19	142	£141,234	£17,491	£3,977	£5,474	—	—	£168,175
2019-20	187	£150,558	£22,040	£25,655	£10,490	—	—	£208,744
2020-21	118	£167,666	£18,232	£20,654	£3,862	—	—	£210,414
2021-22	98	£181,421	£17,789	£22,766	£6,775	—	£598	£229,349
2022-23	150	£217,499	£26,728	£4,665	£15,275	—	—	£264,167
2023-24	108	£201,149	£15,588	£26,132	£11,540	—	£912	£255,321
2024-25	75	£206,705	£13,086	£25,645	£15,267	—	—	£260,702
2025-26	40	£900	£10,531	£2,567	—	—	—	£13,998

A year in which Cat Smith 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, 2016-17

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£136,181
Public Tr RAIL Volunteer - RT	4	£44

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	8	£7,539
Business Rates	1	£4,066
Stationery Purchase	15	£1,766
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	14	£1,380
Other	5	£1,091
Const Office Repairs	1	£1,037

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£8,901

Starting up and winding up

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Office Alterations StartUp	3	£5,935

Largest claims, 2016-17

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 2017	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year	£136,181	£136,181
31 March 2017	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2016-17	£8,901	£8,901
4 May 2016	Start Up	Office Alterations StartUp	Office Refurbishment	£4,200	£4,200
14 April 2016	Office Costs	Business Rates	Business Rates	£4,066	£4,066
21 July 2016	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£2,014	£2,014
4 May 2016	Start Up	Office Alterations StartUp	Office Electrical Work	£1,127	£1,127
10 August 2016	Office Costs	Const Office Repairs	Project management	£1,037	£1,037
1 December 2016	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,007	£1,007
1 September 2016	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,007	£1,007
15 December 2016	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,000	£1,000
16 September 2016	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,000	£1,000
16 June 2016	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,000	£1,000
6 January 2017	Office Costs	Parliamentary Accountancy	Parliamentary Accountancy	£742	£742
4 May 2016	Start Up	Office Alterations StartUp	constituency office flooring	£608	£608
7 June 2016	Office Costs	Other	Constituency Office Sign	£590	£590

Claims refused and money repaid, 2016-17

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £55 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 Cat Smith 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 · Cat Smith’s register of interests and votes · Sources