MPs’ business costs

Sir Julian Lewis

IPSA paid £2,241,030 against 1,054 published rows for Sir Julian Lewis between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for New Forest East 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, 2010-11

79 claims, £106,397 paid. The headings are IPSA’s own categories grouped; the categories inside each are named on the register page.

CategoryWhat it coversClaimsPaidShare
StaffingThe 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£84,83779.7%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.60£10,81110.2%
AccommodationThe 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.16£7,4017.0%
TravelJourneys 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£3,3483.1%

Every year in the register

Sir Julian Lewis’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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2010-1179£84,837£10,811£7,401£3,348£106,397
2011-1284£101,187£11,836£6,926£3,893£123,842
2012-1379£102,016£13,182£5,950£3,287£124,434
2013-1480£102,943£12,087£7,193£3,372£125,595
2014-1579£102,477£11,850£6,595£3,708£4£124,634
2015-1674£104,568£12,117£3,698£2,505£122,888
2016-1774£105,526£10,975£8,562£2,649£127,713
2017-1876£118,800£12,698£4,122£1,816£137,436
2018-1976£125,070£15,582£5,148£2,370£148,171
2019-2072£127,557£15,845£5,270£1,632£150,304
2020-2161£137,758£15,738£5,410£1,169£160,075
2021-2253£157,672£17,134£5,480£2,633£182,920
2022-2351£163,153£16,722£5,910£2,170£187,955
2023-2451£170,614£16,714£6,330£2,227£195,885
2024-2545£189,928£13,491£6,593£2,106£212,118
2025-2620£3,792£6,870£10,662

A year in which Sir Julian Lewis 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, 2010-11

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£80,959
Pooled Staffing Services1£3,878

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Const Office Rent7£4,821
Const Office Hire of Premises3£2,125
Landline Hire12£1,395
Other10£959
Payment Telephone/Mobile12£723
Photocopier Purchase1£294

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Service Charges5£5,161
Council Tax2£1,033
Electricity2£363
Water1£348
Home Contents Insurance1£321
Telephone Usage/Rental4£149

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Aggregated Travel Costs1£3,348

Largest claims, 2010-11

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.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
31 March 2011StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2010-11 year£80,959£80,959
16 June 2010StaffingPooled Staffing ServicesPRU 10.5.10 - 31.3.11£3,878£3,878
31 March 2011TravelAggregated Travel CostsAggregated figure for travel during 2010-11£3,348£3,348
25 March 2011AccommodationService ChargesService charges£1,142£1,142
28 January 2011AccommodationService ChargesService charges£1,142£1,142
12 September 2010AccommodationService ChargesService charges£1,138£1,138
12 September 2010AccommodationService ChargesService charges£1,138£1,138
25 February 2011Office CostsConst Office Rent£708£708
26 January 2011Office CostsConst Office Rent£708£708
24 December 2010Office CostsConst Office Rent£708£708
24 October 2010Office CostsConst Office Hire of PremisesOffice rent for December£708£708
1 October 2010Office CostsConst Office Hire of PremisesOffice rent for November£708£708
27 August 2010Office CostsConst Office RentOffice rent for Sept and Oct£708£708
1 August 2010Office CostsConst Office Hire of PremisesParliamentary office, Cadnam£708£708
1 July 2010Office CostsConst Office RentParly Office Rent--May/June 10£708£708

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 Julian Lewis 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 Julian Lewis’s register of interests and votes · Sources