MPs’ business costs
Chris Law
IPSA paid £2,464,582 against 2,402 published rows for Chris Law between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Dundee West BC, then Dundee Central 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, 2015-16
224 claims, £146,450 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. | 39 | £82,715 | 56.5% |
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 136 | £19,632 | 13.4% |
| 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. | 32 | £14,832 | 10.1% |
| 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 | £23,292 | 15.9% |
| 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. | 16 | £5,978 | 4.1% |
Every year in the register
Chris Law’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 | 224 | £82,715 | £19,632 | £14,832 | £23,292 | £5,978 | — | £146,450 |
| 2016-17 | 198 | £139,748 | £17,970 | £20,610 | £32,027 | — | — | £210,355 |
| 2017-18 | 213 | £146,117 | £18,778 | £22,498 | £18,758 | — | £435 | £206,585 |
| 2018-19 | 215 | £146,058 | £28,687 | £23,139 | £41,352 | — | — | £239,235 |
| 2019-20 | 257 | £152,096 | £18,931 | £20,828 | £40,134 | — | — | £231,988 |
| 2020-21 | 253 | £170,700 | £30,461 | £21,199 | £1,894 | — | £2,000 | £226,254 |
| 2021-22 | 192 | £179,774 | £19,522 | £22,824 | £20,069 | — | — | £242,190 |
| 2022-23 | 312 | £197,591 | £33,948 | £24,240 | £38,648 | — | — | £294,428 |
| 2023-24 | 254 | £218,305 | £24,455 | £27,192 | £35,494 | — | — | £305,446 |
| 2024-25 | 213 | £238,711 | £26,801 | £29,302 | £49,977 | — | — | £344,791 |
| 2025-26 | 71 | — | £14,987 | £1,874 | — | — | — | £16,861 |
A year in which Chris Law 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, 2015-16
The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.
Staffing
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll | 1 | £79,422 |
| Pooled Services: Direct | 1 | £2,625 |
| Hotel London Area Volunteer | 1 | £450 |
| Food & Drink Volunteer | 33 | £142 |
| Staff Training Costs | 1 | £65 |
| Public Tr BUS Volunteer | 2 | £11 |
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Const Office Rent | 4 | £5,063 |
| IT/Other Equipment Hire | 1 | £2,853 |
| Business Rates | 4 | £1,817 |
| Computer HW Purchase | 1 | £1,787 |
| Furniture Purchase | 7 | £1,337 |
| Stationery Purchase | 17 | £867 |
Accommodation
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Hotel London Area | 25 | £8,478 |
| Accommodation Rent | 1 | £5,869 |
| Electricity | 2 | £146 |
| Council Tax | 1 | £141 |
| Gas | 2 | £123 |
| Water | 1 | £76 |
Travel
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Aggregated Travel Costs | 1 | £23,292 |
Starting up and winding up
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Office Furn Purch StartUp | 7 | £5,643 |
| Other Equipment Purch StartUp | 3 | £200 |
| Office Alterations StartUp | 1 | £114 |
| Comp HW Purch StartUp | 3 | £22 |
| Office Consumables StartUp | 2 | £-1 |
Largest claims, 2015-16
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 2016 | Staffing | Payroll | Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year | £79,422 | £79,422 |
| 31 March 2016 | Travel | Aggregated Travel Costs | Aggregated figure for travel during 2015-16 | £23,292 | £23,292 |
| 15 December 2015 | Accommodation | Accommodation Rent | — | £5,869 | £5,869 |
| 18 August 2015 | Start Up | Office Furn Purch StartUp | IKEA and Const. Office Sign | £4,036 | £4,036 |
| 1 March 2016 | Office Costs | IT/Other Equipment Hire | Credit Card March 2016 | £2,853 | £2,853 |
| 30 March 2016 | Staffing | Pooled Services: Direct | SNP Group | £2,625 | £2,625 |
| 15 December 2015 | Office Costs | Computer HW Purchase | Credit Card Nov/Dec 15 | £1,787 | £1,787 |
| 18 November 2015 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | — | £1,500 | £1,500 |
| 19 August 2015 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | — | £1,500 | £1,500 |
| 17 July 2015 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | — | £1,500 | £1,500 |
| 1 October 2015 | Office Costs | Business Rates | Credit Card Early October 15 | £910 | £910 |
| 21 January 2016 | Office Costs | Business Rates | Credit Card January 2016 | £907 | £907 |
| 18 December 2015 | Accommodation | Hotel London Area | Credit Card Nov/Dec 15 | £600 | £600 |
| 10 May 2015 | Accommodation | Hotel London Area | Hotel booked through Chambers and paid directly for new MPs | £600 | £600 |
| 27 August 2015 | Office Costs | Furniture Purchase | CC September 2015 | £571 | £571 |
Claims refused and money repaid, 2015-16
3 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £1,794 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 Law 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 Law’s register of interests and votes · Sources