MPs’ business costs

Dan Tomlinson

IPSA paid £245,253 against 192 published rows for Dan Tomlinson between 2024-25 and 2025-26 as the member for Chipping Barnet 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, 2024-25 to 2025-26

192 claims, £245,253 paid. The headings are IPSA’s own categories grouped; the categories inside each are named on the register page.

CategoryWhat it coversClaimsPaidShare
StaffingThe 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.8£194,86179.5%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.183£50,35120.5%
TravelJourneys 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£410.0%

Every year in the register

Dan Tomlinson’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2024-25 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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsTravelTotal
2024-25131£194,572£30,832£41£225,444
2025-2661£290£19,519£19,809

A year in which Dan Tomlinson 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, 2024-25 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£192,945
Training - staff5£1,627
Bought-in services1£225
Volunteer - agreed arrangement costs1£65

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Postage & couriers7£10,376
Rent9£8,693
Stationery & printing39£8,072
Equipment - purchase13£6,065
Software & applications27£4,628
Advertising and contact cards39£3,908

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Mileage - car1£41

Largest claims, 2024-25 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.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
31 March 2025StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year£192,945£192,945
4 March 2025Office CostsEquipment - purchaseOther office equipment£3,915£3,915
3 October 2024Office CostsPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£3,000£3,000
12 December 2025Office CostsPostage & couriersROYAL MAIL DOOR TO DOO£2,630£2,630
22 May 2025Office CostsPostage & couriersROYAL MAIL DOOR TO DOO£2,559£2,559
12 December 2025Office CostsAdvertising and contact cardsAGA PRINT LTD£1,856£1,856
4 February 2025Office CostsRent£1,800£1,800
20 March 2025Office CostsPostage & couriersVIKING [200011725-7415]£1,713£1,713
20 March 2025Office CostsPostage & couriersROYAL MAIL ONLINE SHOP [200011725-7414]£1,675£1,675
15 July 2025Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES£1,476£1,476
6 January 2025Office CostsRent£1,140£1,140
3 December 2024Office CostsRent£1,140£1,140
5 November 2024Office CostsRent£1,140£1,140
1 October 2024Office CostsRent£1,140£1,140
3 September 2024Office CostsRent£1,140£1,140

Claims refused and money repaid, 2024-25 to 2025-26

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £81 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 Dan Tomlinson 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 · Dan Tomlinson’s register of interests and votes · Sources