MPs’ business costs

Clive Lewis

IPSA paid £2,282,479 against 1,489 published rows for Clive Lewis between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Norwich South 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 to 2025-26

1,489 claims, £2,282,479 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.	389	£1,730,096	75.8%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	776	£258,693	11.3%
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.	240	£242,484	10.6%
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.	53	£43,681	1.9%
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.	21	£5,991	0.3%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	10	£1,535	0.1%

Every year in the register

Clive Lewis’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	302	£123,472	£15,667	£10,375	£4,326	£5,991	—	£159,830
2016-17	184	£133,818	£22,181	£20,329	£4,026	—	—	£180,354
2017-18	122	£149,228	£16,389	£24,572	£3,155	—	—	£193,343
2018-19	74	£148,351	£24,078	£25,285	£4,208	—	—	£201,922
2019-20	86	£147,755	£23,198	£25,723	£5,158	—	—	£201,835
2020-21	127	£180,600	£25,735	£23,626	£2,989	—	£884	£233,833
2021-22	91	£182,810	£24,998	£26,056	£3,449	—	£232	£237,545
2022-23	136	£199,198	£31,770	£25,950	£5,425	—	—	£262,343
2023-24	138	£231,881	£30,780	£27,079	£5,372	—	—	£295,112
2024-25	162	£229,103	£28,693	£28,427	£5,574	—	—	£291,796
2025-26	67	£3,880	£15,204	£5,063	—	—	£419	£24,566

A year in which Clive Lewis 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 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	10	£1,668,142
Bought-in services	36	£29,712
Professional Services (Staff.)	28	£25,496
Training - staff	5	£2,137
Working From Home Allowance	3	£1,609
Public Tr RAIL Volunteer - RT	38	£1,126

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	32	£72,919
Const Office Rent	18	£47,737
Equipment - purchase	149	£19,889
Utilities	50	£13,815
Stationery & printing	133	£12,771
Bought-in services	16	£9,898

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	59	£136,435
Accommodation Rent	33	£44,557
Service Charges	17	£26,386
Council tax	11	£13,880
Utilities	69	£10,428
Council Tax	10	£4,425

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	16	£21,314
Aggregated Travel Costs	4	£15,714
Other public transport	10	£3,247
Hotel - UK Not London	3	£1,089
Taxi	9	£1,046
Hotel - London	3	£941

Starting up and winding up

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Comp HW Purch StartUp	7	£2,035
Office Furn Purch StartUp	2	£1,696
Comp SW Purch StartUp	1	£1,000
Office Alterations StartUp	1	£666
Tel/Mobile Purch StartUp	1	£299
Shredder Purch Startup	1	£198

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Removals	10	£1,535

Largest claims, 2015-16 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	£224,738	£224,738
31 March 2024	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year	£220,115	£220,115
31 March 2023	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year	£186,151	£186,151
31 March 2022	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£182,410	£182,410
31 March 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£180,508	£180,508
31 March 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£147,755	£147,755
31 March 2019	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year	£145,120	£145,120
31 March 2018	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year	£142,813	£142,813
31 March 2017	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year	£122,933	£122,933
31 March 2016	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year	£115,598	£115,598
31 March 2025	Accommodation	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25	£24,335	£24,335
31 March 2025	Office Costs	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25	£17,333	£17,333
31 March 2022	Office Costs	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£9,849	£9,849
21 March 2023	Office Costs	Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs	Painting of constituency office interior	£4,830	£4,830
14 June 2018	Office Costs	Professional Services: Direct	PRS	£4,800	£4,800

Claims refused and money repaid, 2015-16 to 2025-26

19 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £1,401 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 Clive Lewis 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 · Clive Lewis’s register of interests and votes · Sources