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, 2018-19

125 claims, £190,616 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.	22	£133,124	69.8%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	79	£18,874	9.9%
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.	23	£32,392	17.0%
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	£6,226	3.3%

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, 2018-19

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£132,421
Public Tr RAIL Volunteer - RT	6	£611
Food & Drink Volunteer	13	£53
Public Tr RAIL Volunteer - SG	2	£39

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Advertising	21	£11,104
Professional Services: Direct	1	£3,094
Stationery Purchase	12	£1,373
Computer HW Purchase	1	£1,151
Newspapers/Journals	15	£807
Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting	22	£590

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	12	£31,029
Council Tax	1	£883
Electricity	10	£480

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£6,226

Largest claims, 2018-19

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 2019	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year	£132,421	£132,421
31 March 2019	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2018-19	£6,226	£6,226
11 May 2018	Office Costs	Professional Services: Direct	PRU	£3,094	£3,094
29 January 2019	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,600	£2,600
19 December 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,600	£2,600
22 November 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,600	£2,600
24 October 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,600	£2,600
25 September 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,600	£2,600
25 August 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,600	£2,600
25 July 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,600	£2,600
29 June 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,600	£2,600
29 May 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,600	£2,600
25 April 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,600	£2,600
1 April 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	[***]	£2,600	£2,600
26 February 2019	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,429	£2,429

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