MPs’ business costs

Sir Edward Leigh

IPSA paid £2,304,264 against 1,268 published rows for Sir Edward Leigh between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Gainsborough CC. 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, 2010-11 to 2025-26

1,268 claims, £2,304,264 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.126£2,043,58388.7%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.450£83,5313.6%
AccommodationThe 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.628£79,7433.5%
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.63£97,4074.2%
MiscellaneousClaims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.1£00.0%

Every year in the register

Sir Edward Leigh’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 costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2010-1175£74,915£4,422£2,907£6,357£88,602
2011-12140£111,229£7,618£6,553£8,393£133,793
2012-13104£123,247£10,492£4,580£7,013£145,332
2013-1482£116,793£5,254£6,138£7,014£135,199
2014-1534£122,256£3,664£207£6,440£132,567
2015-1659£126,162£5,385£3,768£4,714£140,030
2016-1758£133,060£3,803£3,126£5,557£145,546
2017-1880£133,350£3,799£5,962£6,700£149,811
2018-1981£134,940£2,977£5,150£5,998£149,064
2019-2083£132,736£2,529£5,269£7,085£147,620
2020-2185£151,195£6,663£5,409£3,613£166,881
2021-2285£151,533£6,418£5,570£6,293£169,814
2022-2386£164,609£5,358£5,990£8,699£184,656
2023-2481£172,337£4,560£6,330£7,275£190,502
2024-25102£195,220£8,666£6,630£6,256£216,772
2025-2633£1,922£6,154£8,076

A year in which Sir Edward Leigh 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, 2010-11 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll15£1,989,398
Professional Services (Staff.)10£23,600
Pooled Services: Direct7£19,992
Pooled Staffing Services1£3,960
Pooled staffing services1£3,133
Public Tr UND Int/Volntr15£1,667

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Pooled staffing services6£17,574
Const Office Rent90£17,404
Stationery Purchase87£13,662
Stationery & printing64£7,358
Professional Services: Direct1£3,960
Working From Home Allowance3£3,521

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Utilities139£18,139
Council tax70£16,732
Council Tax36£10,611
Buildings Insurance18£6,804
Gas38£6,620
Electricity51£4,466

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Aggregated Travel Costs9£58,186
Mileage - car24£31,552
Rail14£2,971
Congestion charge & toll5£1,894
Hotel - European3£1,685
Air travel3£845

Miscellaneous

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent1£0

Largest claims, 2010-11 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£195,220£195,220
31 March 2024StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year£172,337£172,337
31 March 2023StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year£164,609£164,609
31 March 2022StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year£151,533£151,533
31 March 2021StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year£151,195£151,195
31 March 2018StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year£130,670£130,670
31 March 2017StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year£130,399£130,399
31 March 2019StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year£129,846£129,846
31 March 2020StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year£129,603£129,603
31 March 2016StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2015-16 year£123,185£123,185
31 March 2013StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2012-13 year£122,387£122,387
31 March 2015StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2014-15 year£118,564£118,564
31 March 2012StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2011-12 year£105,654£105,654
31 March 2014StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2013-14 year£89,936£89,936
31 March 2011StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2010-11 year£74,259£74,259

Claims refused and money repaid, 2010-11 to 2025-26

9 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £17 not paid and £839 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 Sir Edward Leigh 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 · Sir Edward Leigh’s register of interests and votes · Sources

Sir Edward Leigh: business costs paid by IPSA, 2010-11 to 2025-26 | Civometry