MPs’ business costs

Laura Trott

IPSA paid £1,188,174 against 479 published rows for Laura Trott between 2019-20 and 2025-26 as the member for Sevenoaks 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, 2023-24

99 claims, £249,139 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	£231,442	92.9%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	88	£17,034	6.8%
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.	7	£664	0.3%

Every year in the register

Laura Trott’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2019-20 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	Travel	Miscellaneous	Total
2019-20	33	£26,035	£1,357	£210	—	£27,602
2020-21	59	£161,402	£11,930	£206	—	£173,538
2021-22	96	£189,861	£17,339	£683	—	£207,883
2022-23	69	£211,848	£8,576	£982	—	£221,406
2023-24	99	£231,442	£17,034	£664	—	£249,139
2024-25	85	£265,006	£20,928	£445	—	£286,380
2025-26	38	£2,650	£18,916	—	£661	£22,227

A year in which Laura Trott 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, 2023-24

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£227,817
Bought-in services	3	£3,625

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Equipment - purchase	15	£3,681
Stationery & printing	35	£3,499
Pooled staffing services	1	£3,188
Rent	11	£3,120
Software & applications	16	£1,807
Bought-in services	1	£1,150

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	2	£385
Mileage - car	3	£262
Congestion charge & toll	1	£15
Parking	1	£2

Largest claims, 2023-24

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 2024	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year	£227,817	£227,817
18 April 2023	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Policy Research Unit (Conservative)	£3,188	£3,188
9 October 2023	Staffing	Bought-in services	Administrative services	£1,450	£1,450
3 July 2023	Staffing	Bought-in services	Administrative services	£1,200	£1,200
11 April 2023	Office Costs	Bought-in services	Administrative services	£1,150	£1,150
4 December 2023	Staffing	Bought-in services	Administrative services	£975	£975
9 June 2023	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Office furniture	£749	£749
16 December 2023	Office Costs	Software & applications	ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES	£690	£690
10 June 2023	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Computer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories	£529	£529
22 May 2023	Office Costs	Rent	[***] 1/5/23 - 30/6/23	£520	£520
9 June 2023	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	WWW.PRINTERBASE.CO.UK	£461	£461
27 September 2023	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	Banner October 2023	£443	£443
9 June 2023	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Office furniture	£422	£422
6 September 2023	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Office furniture	£411	£411
20 July 2023	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Banner August 2023	£407	£407

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 Laura Trott 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 · Laura Trott’s register of interests and votes · Sources