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, 2021-22

192 claims, £242,190 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	£179,774	74.2%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	154	£19,522	8.1%
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.	8	£22,824	9.4%
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.	28	£20,069	8.3%

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, 2021-22

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£168,563
Pooled staffing services	1	£11,211

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	23	£10,250
Utilities	23	£2,339
Working From Home Allowance	1	£1,664
Mobile telephone - contract & usage	50	£1,301
Postage & couriers	5	£934
Software & applications	11	£649

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	1	£21,570
Utilities	6	£633
Council tax	1	£621

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Air travel	4	£13,749
Railcard	2	£1,680
Mileage - car	4	£1,563
Parking	4	£1,335
Hotel - London	1	£525
Rail	5	£411

Largest claims, 2021-22

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 2022	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£168,563	£168,563
31 March 2022	Accommodation	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£21,570	£21,570
26 May 2021	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Scottish National Party Research Team (SNP)	£11,211	£11,211
31 March 2022	MP Travel	Air travel	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£9,493	£9,493
31 March 2022	Staff Travel	Air travel	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£3,595	£3,595
6 January 2022	Office Costs	Rent	DUNDEE CC T/T	£1,750	£1,750
15 September 2021	Office Costs	Rent	DUNDEE CC T/T	£1,750	£1,750
4 June 2021	Office Costs	Rent	DUNDEE CC T/T	£1,750	£1,750
31 March 2022	Office Costs	Working From Home Allowance	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£1,664	£1,664
31 March 2022	MP Travel	Railcard	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£1,650	£1,650
31 March 2022	MP Travel	Parking	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£1,157	£1,157
31 March 2022	MP Travel	Mileage - car	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£1,064	£1,064
17 December 2021	Office Costs	Utilities	Electricity	£621	£621
6 April 2021	Accommodation	Council tax	WESTMINSTER CITY COUNC	£621	£621
31 March 2022	Staff Travel	Hotel - London	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£525	£525

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