MPs’ business costs

Gareth Thomas

IPSA paid £2,939,367 against 1,392 published rows for Gareth Thomas between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Harrow West 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, 2020-21

93 claims, £230,376 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.	1	£206,445	89.6%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	91	£23,916	10.4%
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.	1	£15	0.0%

Every year in the register

Gareth Thomas’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.

Year	Claims	Staffing	Office costs	Travel	Miscellaneous	Total
2010-11	59	£89,543	£15,444	£264	—	£105,251
2011-12	68	£114,305	£19,542	£205	£136	£134,188
2012-13	88	£137,296	£23,806	£15	—	£161,117
2013-14	125	£143,573	£22,643	£1,705	—	£167,922
2014-15	89	£152,786	£23,149	£670	—	£176,604
2015-16	81	£143,080	£21,273	—	—	£164,353
2016-17	46	£147,352	£19,354	£60	—	£166,767
2017-18	47	£159,058	£18,810	£157	—	£178,024
2018-19	52	£163,080	£22,816	£52	—	£185,947
2019-20	132	£161,651	£18,266	£1,241	—	£181,158
2020-21	93	£206,445	£23,916	£15	—	£230,376
2021-22	90	£218,409	£22,929	£78	£1,912	£243,328
2022-23	102	£235,755	£23,402	£129	—	£259,286
2023-24	140	£252,533	£26,860	£56	—	£279,449
2024-25	121	£267,472	£25,400	£97	—	£292,969
2025-26	59	—	£12,629	—	—	£12,629

A year in which Gareth Thomas 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, 2020-21

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£206,445

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	11	£9,144
Pooled staffing services	1	£3,600
Equipment - purchase	16	£3,544
Working From Home Allowance	1	£2,260
Stationery & printing	21	£2,017
Software & applications	16	£1,065

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Congestion charge & toll	1	£15

Largest claims, 2020-21

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 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£206,445	£206,445
27 May 2020	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£3,600	£3,600
31 March 2021	Office Costs	Working From Home Allowance	Aggregated figure for 2020-21	£2,260	£2,260
17 July 2020	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Computer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories	£1,219	£1,219
2 March 2021	Office Costs	Rent	—	£831	£831
2 February 2021	Office Costs	Rent	—	£831	£831
6 January 2021	Office Costs	Rent	—	£831	£831
1 December 2020	Office Costs	Rent	—	£831	£831
1 November 2020	Office Costs	Rent	—	£831	£831
4 October 2020	Office Costs	Rent	—	£831	£831
1 September 2020	Office Costs	Rent	—	£831	£831
1 August 2020	Office Costs	Rent	—	£831	£831
1 July 2020	Office Costs	Rent	—	£831	£831
3 June 2020	Office Costs	Rent	—	£831	£831
6 May 2020	Office Costs	Rent	—	£831	£831

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 Thomas 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 Thomas’s register of interests and votes · Sources