MPs’ business costs

Mr David Lammy

IPSA paid £3,026,378 against 3,947 published rows for Mr David Lammy between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Tottenham 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, 2016-17

244 claims, £165,141 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.166£144,62187.6%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.77£18,11911.0%
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£2,4011.5%

Every year in the register

Mr David Lammy’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2010-11 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 costsTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2010-11416£154,626£17,587£1,595£173,808
2011-12414£144,581£20,899£1,707£167,188
2012-13378£141,363£22,642£2,272£166,277
2013-14460£143,535£21,907£1,977£167,419
2014-15304£145,517£25,900£484£171,900
2015-16590£139,719£22,019£2,045£163,782
2016-17244£144,621£18,119£2,401£165,141
2017-18385£155,753£17,876£1,876£175,505
2018-19143£177,184£18,721£1,098£197,003
2019-2074£163,433£22,374£16,207£202,014
2020-2155£187,179£24,687£115£211,981
2021-2266£214,050£27,898£241,948
2022-23143£235,219£28,582£263,800
2023-24154£248,874£34,620£283,494
2024-2595£240,402£27,433£267,835
2025-2626£78£7,204£7,282

A year in which Mr David Lammy 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, 2016-17

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£142,844
Public Tr UND Volunteer36£1,319
Food & Drink Volunteer129£459

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Const Office Rent4£11,362
Stationery Purchase18£1,592
Business Rates10£1,290
Parliamentary Accountancy1£630
Const Office Cleaning11£579
Computer SW Purchase1£500

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Aggregated Travel Costs1£2,401

Largest claims, 2016-17

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 2017StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year£142,844£142,844
27 December 2016Office CostsConst Office Rent£3,600£3,600
27 September 2016Office CostsConst Office Rent£3,600£3,600
29 June 2016Office CostsConst Office Rent£3,600£3,600
31 March 2017TravelAggregated Travel CostsAggregated figure for travel during 2016-17£2,401£2,401
1 March 2017Office CostsParliamentary AccountancyConstituency costs Oct-April17£630£630
27 March 2017Office CostsConst Office Rent£562£562
3 October 2016Office CostsConst Office Buildings Insur.Office expenses Sept 2016£500£500
15 August 2016Office CostsComputer SW PurchaseAnnual database support£500£500
26 September 2016Office CostsStationery PurchaseOffice expenses Sept 2016£430£430
10 March 2017Office CostsContents InsuranceIPSA Expenses Card March 2017£306£306
17 November 2016Office CostsStationery PurchaseOffice expenses Nov 2016£204£204
21 December 2016Office CostsAdvertisingOffice expenses Dec 2016£189£189
28 September 2016Office CostsStationery PurchaseBanner£179£179
30 March 2017Office CostsOtherOffice expenses March-April£166£166

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 Mr David Lammy 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 · Mr David Lammy’s register of interests and votes · Sources