MPs’ business costs

Sir Geoffrey Cox

IPSA paid £2,821,148 against 3,042 published rows for Sir Geoffrey Cox between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Torridge and West Devon CC, then Torridge and Tavistock 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, 2013-14

303 claims, £164,565 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.	3	£124,156	75.4%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	270	£20,142	12.2%
Accommodation	The 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.	29	£8,850	5.4%
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	£11,417	6.9%

Every year in the register

Sir Geoffrey Cox’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	Accommodation	Travel	Miscellaneous	Total
2010-11	276	£89,601	£14,338	£8,400	£10,769	£316	£123,423
2011-12	363	£106,999	£27,312	£9,754	£12,591	£932	£157,588
2012-13	316	£116,480	£20,338	£8,294	£12,730	£937	£158,779
2013-14	303	£124,156	£20,142	£8,850	£11,417	—	£164,565
2014-15	224	£128,449	£17,388	£8,571	£15,332	—	£169,739
2015-16	226	£134,902	£21,016	£8,280	£12,925	£642	£177,764
2016-17	174	£132,412	£17,856	£8,606	£12,405	—	£171,279
2017-18	159	£104,298	£18,371	£14,346	£11,721	—	£148,736
2018-19	170	£132,859	£18,886	£22,680	£13,212	—	£187,637
2019-20	224	£147,580	£22,779	£22,680	£16,225	—	£209,263
2020-21	114	£164,726	£16,940	£22,800	£4,659	—	£209,124
2021-22	92	£165,468	£18,147	£15,200	£9,457	—	£208,273
2022-23	93	£200,677	£18,604	£5,875	£11,789	—	£236,945
2023-24	102	£155,111	£23,126	£17,750	£17,816	—	£213,803
2024-25	109	£209,629	£19,586	£24,421	£11,364	—	£265,000
2025-26	97	£1,750	£15,675	£306	—	£1,499	£19,230

A year in which Sir Geoffrey Cox 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, 2013-14

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£117,576
Pooled Services: Direct	1	£3,960
Professional Services (Staff.)	1	£2,620

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	12	£7,800
Website - Design/Production	3	£2,682
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	25	£2,236
Business Rates	2	£2,114
Stationery Purchase	48	£1,586
Legal Expenses Insurance	1	£578

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Service Charges	2	£6,139
Electricity	1	£1,766
Council Tax	10	£991
Water	8	£518
Telephone Usage/Rental	7	£381
Accommodation Rent	1	£-945

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£11,417

Largest claims, 2013-14

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 2014	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2013-14 year	£117,576	£117,576
31 March 2014	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2013-14	£11,417	£11,417
5 June 2013	Staffing	Pooled Services: Direct	PRU subscription	£3,960	£3,960
1 April 2013	Accommodation	Service Charges	Ancillary Accom - Service Char	£3,084	£3,084
30 September 2013	Accommodation	Service Charges	Service Charges for flat	£3,055	£3,055
19 March 2014	Staffing	Professional Services (Staff.)	PRU Subscription 2014/15	£2,620	£2,620
27 August 2013	Accommodation	Electricity	[***] Accom - Electricity	£1,766	£1,766
6 January 2014	Office Costs	Website - Design/Production	Surgery ad and website costs	£1,350	£1,350
14 March 2014	Office Costs	Business Rates	Const Office Council Tax	£1,059	£1,059
14 May 2013	Office Costs	Business Rates	Constituency Council Tax	£1,055	£1,055
25 July 2013	Office Costs	Website - Design/Production	clean/phone/Insur/ web/venue	£666	£666
1 April 2013	Office Costs	Website - Design/Production	Office Costs - Website	£666	£666
25 February 2014	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£650	£650
24 January 2014	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£650	£650
19 December 2013	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£650	£650

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 Geoffrey Cox 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 Geoffrey Cox’s register of interests and votes · Sources