MPs’ business costs

James Cartlidge

IPSA paid £1,906,118 against 1,338 published rows for James Cartlidge between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for South Suffolk 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, 2015-16

150 claims, £112,051 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.	56	£83,093	74.2%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	62	£10,812	9.6%
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.	13	£9,713	8.7%
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	£4,153	3.7%
Starting up and winding up	The one-off costs of opening an office on election and of closing one on leaving. These fall in the years around a general election and are absent from the rest.	18	£4,280	3.8%

Every year in the register

James Cartlidge’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2015-16 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	Starting up and winding up	Total
2015-16	150	£83,093	£10,812	£9,713	£4,153	£4,280	£112,051
2016-17	165	£126,241	£14,100	£12,610	£5,188	£1,096	£159,235
2017-18	117	£110,853	£16,608	£12,090	£4,840	—	£144,391
2018-19	125	£133,124	£18,874	£32,392	£6,226	—	£190,616
2019-20	144	£137,199	£18,421	£32,874	£6,283	—	£194,777
2020-21	81	£148,885	£16,801	£31,346	£3,001	—	£200,032
2021-22	107	£157,238	£18,484	£34,370	£3,966	—	£214,058
2022-23	112	£152,846	£9,446	£31,818	£5,308	—	£199,418
2023-24	157	£143,062	£15,657	£36,767	£4,004	—	£199,491
2024-25	145	£223,999	£14,889	£36,599	£5,803	—	£281,289
2025-26	35	—	£6,478	£4,282	—	—	£10,760

A year in which James Cartlidge 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, 2015-16

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£79,202
Pooled Services: Direct	1	£2,685
Staff Training Costs	1	£730
Public Tr RAIL Volunteer - RT	10	£235
Food & Drink Volunteer	26	£106
Public Tr RAIL Volunteer - SG	7	£99

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	1	£4,032
Stationery Purchase	15	£2,303
Advertising	7	£2,172
Computer SW Purchase	1	£1,062
Newspapers/Journals	13	£526
Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting	6	£202

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	4	£7,973
Hotel London Area	3	£1,033
Service Charges	1	£295
Council Tax	1	£289
Gas	3	£73
Electricity	1	£50

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£4,153

Starting up and winding up

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Comp HW Purch StartUp	2	£3,177
Office Consumables StartUp	7	£591
Other Equipment Purch StartUp	5	£284
Office Furn Purch StartUp	4	£228

Largest claims, 2015-16

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 2016	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year	£79,202	£79,202
31 March 2016	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2015-16	£4,153	£4,153
1 March 2016	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	Annual rent - const. office	£4,032	£4,032
12 June 2015	Staffing	Pooled Services: Direct	PRU	£2,685	£2,685
4 February 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,232	£2,232
4 January 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,232	£2,232
4 December 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,232	£2,232
23 June 2015	Start Up	Comp HW Purch StartUp	June 2015 Payment Card	£1,594	£1,594
21 January 2016	Start Up	Comp HW Purch StartUp	Payment Card Jan 16	£1,583	£1,583
7 March 2016	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,278	£1,278
12 June 2015	Office Costs	Computer SW Purchase	PRU	£1,062	£1,062
1 March 2016	Office Costs	Advertising	March Payment Card	£827	£827
10 June 2015	Staffing	Staff Training Costs	June 2015 Payment Card	£730	£730
10 March 2016	Office Costs	Advertising	March Payment Card	£486	£486
15 October 2015	Accommodation	Hotel London Area	JC October Payment Card	£447	£447

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 James Cartlidge 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 · James Cartlidge’s register of interests and votes · Sources