MPs’ business costs

Chris Elmore

IPSA paid £2,301,318 against 2,268 published rows for Chris Elmore between 2016-17 and 2025-26 as the member for Ogmore CC, then Bridgend 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 to 2025-26

2,268 claims, £2,301,318 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.	418	£1,671,108	72.6%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	1,638	£241,277	10.5%
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.	98	£229,639	10.0%
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.	101	£152,370	6.6%
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.	5	£5,993	0.3%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	8	£931	0.0%

Every year in the register

Chris Elmore’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2016-17 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
2016-17	179	£128,392	£20,244	£15,119	£12,961	£5,993	—	£182,709
2017-18	142	£143,339	£22,798	£19,738	£11,773	—	—	£197,648
2018-19	224	£153,267	£23,875	£22,208	£15,393	—	—	£214,744
2019-20	287	£155,811	£25,515	£22,003	£14,365	—	—	£217,693
2020-21	187	£192,783	£25,545	£24,271	£7,086	—	—	£249,685
2021-22	347	£202,046	£26,666	£30,289	£15,048	—	—	£274,049
2022-23	365	£208,374	£24,725	£30,596	£26,368	—	£278	£290,341
2023-24	294	£237,668	£31,124	£31,617	£22,703	—	—	£323,113
2024-25	201	£249,427	£34,462	£32,242	£26,673	—	£400	£343,205
2025-26	42	—	£6,323	£1,556	—	—	£253	£8,131

A year in which Chris Elmore 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 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	9	£1,575,147
Bought-in services	22	£75,840
Professional Services (Staff.)	3	£9,375
Pooled Services: Direct	3	£3,600
Volunteer - agreed arrangement costs	368	£2,490
Training - staff	6	£2,202

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	24	£38,654
Pooled staffing services	13	£20,500
Bought-in services	24	£18,178
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	85	£16,414
Const Office Rent	36	£14,748
Utilities	112	£13,600

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	6	£161,524
Accommodation Rent	35	£53,511
Council tax	10	£7,751
Utilities	19	£2,590
Council Tax	8	£1,561
Water	4	£681

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Hotel - London	6	£46,873
Aggregated Travel Costs	3	£40,127
Rail	25	£27,879
Mileage - car	20	£23,598
Subsistence	11	£5,580
Congestion charge & toll	5	£3,459

Starting up and winding up

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Office Furn Purch StartUp	2	£5,220
Office Alterations StartUp	1	£625
Comp HW Purch StartUp	1	£135
Office Consumables StartUp	1	£13

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Removals	2	£400
Translation services (Welsh Language)	4	£253
Moving Fees	1	£218
Cleaning services	1	£60

Largest claims, 2016-17 to 2025-26

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 2025	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year	£249,427	£249,427
31 March 2024	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year	£226,054	£226,054
31 March 2023	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year	£188,782	£188,782
31 March 2022	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£183,267	£183,267
31 March 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£175,444	£175,444
31 March 2019	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year	£143,692	£143,692
31 March 2018	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year	£143,314	£143,314
31 March 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£140,374	£140,374
31 March 2017	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year	£124,792	£124,792
31 March 2025	Accommodation	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25	£31,188	£31,188
31 March 2024	Accommodation	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2023-24	£30,066	£30,066
31 March 2022	Accommodation	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£28,395	£28,395
31 March 2023	Accommodation	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2022-23	£28,395	£28,395
31 March 2021	Accommodation	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2020-21	£22,681	£22,681
31 March 2020	Accommodation	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2019-20	£20,800	£20,800

Claims refused and money repaid, 2016-17 to 2025-26

20 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £40 not paid and £3,393 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 Chris Elmore 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 · Chris Elmore’s register of interests and votes · Sources