MPs’ business costs

Jamie Stone

IPSA paid £1,975,266 against 1,735 published rows for Jamie Stone between 2017-18 and 2025-26 as the member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross 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

191 claims, £198,734 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.	2	£125,217	63.0%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	133	£22,210	11.2%
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.	26	£20,885	10.5%
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.	30	£30,422	15.3%

Every year in the register

Jamie Stone’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2017-18 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
2017-18	123	£77,774	£23,924	£10,377	£13,260	—	£125,335
2018-19	177	£132,520	£19,308	£21,116	£28,299	—	£201,243
2019-20	191	£125,217	£22,210	£20,885	£30,422	—	£198,734
2020-21	130	£138,992	£22,709	£21,086	£15,849	—	£198,636
2021-22	230	£184,705	£22,827	£24,135	£36,230	—	£267,896
2022-23	259	£176,307	£27,977	£23,560	£41,204	—	£269,048
2023-24	308	£235,871	£29,282	£24,707	£45,014	£18,567	£353,441
2024-25	239	£250,820	£28,099	£26,645	£40,418	—	£345,982
2025-26	78	—	£12,673	£2,276	—	—	£14,949

A year in which Jamie Stone 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	£119,917
Pooled staffing services	1	£5,300

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	12	£6,900
Utilities	9	£6,552
Advertising and contact cards	22	£3,172
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	11	£1,941
Stationery & printing	8	£1,184
Venue hire, meetings & surgeries	53	£1,130

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	10	£16,033
Utilities	4	£3,227
Council tax	10	£924
Hotel - London	2	£700

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Air travel	4	£18,505
Mileage - car	4	£4,171
Rail	6	£3,842
Parking	2	£1,404
Taxi	5	£1,188
Hotel - UK Not London	2	£461

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	£119,917	£119,917
31 March 2020	MP Travel	Air travel	Aggregated figure for travel during 2019-20	£15,200	£15,200
9 July 2019	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Support Team (Liberal Democrat)	£5,300	£5,300
31 March 2020	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2019-20	£2,901	£2,901
31 March 2020	MP Travel	Mileage - car	Aggregated figure for travel during 2019-20	£2,145	£2,145
12 July 2019	Office Costs	Utilities	Electricity	£2,000	£2,000
31 March 2020	Staff Travel	Air travel	Aggregated figure for travel during 2019-20	£1,792	£1,792
31 March 2020	MP Travel	Mileage - car	Aggregated figure for travel during 2019-20	£1,663	£1,663
11 March 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,603	£1,603
15 January 2020	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,603	£1,603
12 December 2019	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,603	£1,603
8 November 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,603	£1,603
10 October 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,603	£1,603
11 September 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,603	£1,603
8 August 2019	Accommodation	Rent	Direct rental payment	£1,603	£1,603

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 Jamie Stone 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 · Jamie Stone’s register of interests and votes · Sources