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, 2019-20

224 claims, £209,263 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.	4	£147,580	70.5%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	195	£22,779	10.9%
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.	12	£22,680	10.8%
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.	13	£16,225	7.8%

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, 2019-20

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£143,464
Pooled staffing services	1	£3,226
Bought-in services	2	£890

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	4	£7,500
Stationery & printing	42	£3,544
Website hosting and design	7	£3,414
Utilities	28	£1,613
Advertising and contact cards	4	£1,413
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	4	£1,301

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	12	£22,680

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	3	£10,146
Mileage - car	5	£4,069
Hotel - London	1	£1,406
Parking	3	£507
Other public transport	1	£96

Largest claims, 2019-20

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 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£143,464	£143,464
31 March 2020	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2019-20	£7,273	£7,273
15 May 2019	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Policy Research Unit (Conservative)	£3,226	£3,226
31 March 2020	Staff Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2019-20	£2,650	£2,650
31 March 2020	MP Travel	Mileage - car	Aggregated figure for travel during 2019-20	£2,416	£2,416
2 March 2020	Accommodation	Rent	Advance claim for rent payment due 20 March 2020	£1,890	£1,890
3 February 2020	Accommodation	Rent	Advance claim for rent payment due 20 February 2020	£1,890	£1,890
6 January 2020	Accommodation	Rent	Advance claim for rent due 20 January 2020	£1,890	£1,890
3 December 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Advance claim for rent due 20 December 2019	£1,890	£1,890
29 October 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Advance claim for rent due 20 November	£1,890	£1,890
30 September 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Advance claim for rent due 20 October 2019	£1,890	£1,890
3 September 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Advance claim for rent payment due 20 September	£1,890	£1,890
26 July 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Advance claim for rent due 20 August 2019	£1,890	£1,890
1 July 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Advance payment for rent due 20 July 2019	£1,890	£1,890
30 May 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Advance claim for rent due 20 June 2019.	£1,890	£1,890

Claims refused and money repaid, 2019-20

3 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £114 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 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