MPs’ business costs

Christine Jardine

IPSA paid £1,955,157 against 1,075 published rows for Christine Jardine between 2017-18 and 2025-26 as the member for Edinburgh West 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, 2017-18

133 claims, £136,235 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	£85,906	63.1%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	115	£25,728	18.9%
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.	15	£13,004	9.5%
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.	1	£11,597	8.5%

Every year in the register

Christine Jardine’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2017-18 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	Total
2017-18	133	£85,906	£25,728	£13,004	£11,597	£136,235
2018-19	113	£143,080	£24,696	£25,006	£31,535	£224,318
2019-20	101	£142,307	£26,580	£18,244	£29,561	£216,691
2020-21	83	£165,944	£24,816	£20,873	£6,646	£218,279
2021-22	105	£179,982	£24,425	£20,730	£18,593	£243,729
2022-23	155	£197,004	£27,893	£19,759	£25,597	£270,253
2023-24	170	£225,518	£27,191	£23,305	£33,510	£309,524
2024-25	135	£229,506	£31,271	£24,561	£34,298	£319,636
2025-26	80	—	£13,937	£2,555	—	£16,492

A year in which Christine Jardine 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, 2017-18

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£80,806
Pooled Services: Direct	1	£5,100

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	3	£7,455
Furniture Purchase	16	£5,572
Stationery Purchase	30	£2,252
Const Office Repairs	2	£2,202
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	2	£1,936
Computer SW Purchase	2	£1,530

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	6	£9,486
Hotel London Area	8	£3,000
Council Tax	1	£518

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£11,597

Largest claims, 2017-18

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 2018	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year	£80,806	£80,806
31 March 2018	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2017-18	£11,597	£11,597
24 July 2017	Staffing	Pooled Services: Direct	PST	£5,100	£5,100
11 October 2017	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	rent payment	£3,250	£3,250
19 September 2017	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£2,985	£2,985
21 December 2017	Office Costs	Const Office Repairs	Maintenance needed c office	£2,035	£2,035
9 January 2018	Office Costs	Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	January payment card	£1,711	£1,711
2 March 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,581	£1,581
21 January 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,581	£1,581
21 December 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,581	£1,581
4 December 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,581	£1,581
3 November 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,581	£1,581
9 October 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	October rent	£1,581	£1,581
19 February 2018	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,220	£1,220
22 September 2017	Office Costs	Furniture Purchase	Banner	£1,135	£1,135

Claims refused and money repaid, 2017-18

2 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £247 not paid and £0 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 Christine Jardine 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 · Christine Jardine’s register of interests and votes · Sources