MPs’ business costs
Gareth Bacon
IPSA paid £1,144,564 against 517 published rows for Gareth Bacon between 2019-20 and 2025-26 as the member for Orpington 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, 2021-22
82 claims, £185,848 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. | 5 | £165,792 | 89.2% |
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 69 | £18,832 | 10.1% |
| 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. | 8 | £1,224 | 0.7% |
Every year in the register
Gareth Bacon’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2019-20 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 | Travel | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | 43 | £28,116 | £3,753 | £139 | £32,008 |
| 2020-21 | 83 | £141,178 | £19,298 | £65 | £160,542 |
| 2021-22 | 82 | £165,792 | £18,832 | £1,224 | £185,848 |
| 2022-23 | 63 | £204,580 | £22,667 | £477 | £227,724 |
| 2023-24 | 81 | £227,910 | £20,809 | £15 | £248,734 |
| 2024-25 | 111 | £243,135 | £25,614 | £257 | £269,006 |
| 2025-26 | 54 | £3,095 | £17,607 | — | £20,702 |
A year in which Gareth Bacon 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, 2021-22
The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.
Staffing
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll | 1 | £161,254 |
| Pooled staffing services | 3 | £3,988 |
| Bought-in services | 1 | £550 |
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Bought-in services | 11 | £7,875 |
| Rent | 2 | £2,700 |
| Equipment - purchase | 13 | £2,505 |
| Pooled staffing services | 1 | £2,000 |
| Working From Home Allowance | 1 | £1,248 |
| Website hosting and design | 2 | £1,100 |
Travel
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Air travel | 1 | £333 |
| Rail | 1 | £297 |
| Hotel - European | 1 | £208 |
| Mileage - car | 2 | £177 |
| Taxi | 1 | £134 |
| Parking | 1 | £54 |
Largest claims, 2021-22
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 2022 | Staffing | Payroll | Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year | £161,254 | £161,254 |
| 7 April 2021 | Staffing | Pooled staffing services | Policy Research Unit (Conservative) | £2,988 | £2,988 |
| 29 March 2022 | Office Costs | Pooled staffing services | Common Sense Group (Conservative) | £2,000 | £2,000 |
| 14 October 2021 | Office Costs | Rent | Constituency office rent | £1,800 | £1,800 |
| 14 October 2021 | Office Costs | Bought-in services | Administrative services | £1,725 | £1,725 |
| 31 March 2022 | Office Costs | Working From Home Allowance | Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22 | £1,248 | £1,248 |
| 6 February 2022 | Office Costs | Bought-in services | Professional & consultancy | £1,235 | £1,235 |
| 9 March 2021 | Office Costs | Equipment - purchase | Office furniture | £1,117 | £1,117 |
| 16 January 2022 | Office Costs | Rent | Office rental at [***] (annual rental of £3,600 x 25%) | £900 | £900 |
| 16 January 2022 | Office Costs | Bought-in services | Administrative services | £863 | £863 |
| 4 July 2021 | Office Costs | Bought-in services | Administrative services | £633 | £633 |
| 16 January 2022 | Office Costs | Bought-in services | Office services | £600 | £600 |
| 4 January 2022 | Office Costs | Website hosting and design | Social media management for November 2021 - monitoring social media, creation of content for my website (garethbacon.com), Twitter and Facebook accounts in connection with my Parliamentary duties. 20 hours x £27.50 | £550 | £550 |
| 13 December 2021 | Office Costs | Website hosting and design | Social media monitoring and management in October 2021: monitoring social media and creating content for my website (garethbacon.com); Twitter and Facebook accounts in relation to my Parliamentary duties. £27.50 x 20 hours | £550 | £550 |
| 13 September 2021 | Office Costs | Bought-in services | Professional & consultancy | £550 | £550 |
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 Gareth Bacon 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 · Gareth Bacon’s register of interests and votes · Sources