MPs’ business costs

Lee Anderson

IPSA paid £1,158,797 against 810 published rows for Lee Anderson between 2019-20 and 2025-26 as the member for Ashfield 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, 2022-23

127 claims, £195,851 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.	1	£153,259	78.3%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	78	£20,023	10.2%
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.	40	£16,595	8.5%
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.	8	£5,975	3.1%

Every year in the register

Lee Anderson’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	Accommodation	Travel	Total
2019-20	31	£23,459	£9,674	£7,407	£3,520	£44,059
2020-21	162	£165,215	£34,818	£17,790	£4,066	£221,889
2021-22	107	£153,700	£19,814	£10,283	£4,488	£188,285
2022-23	127	£153,259	£20,023	£16,595	£5,975	£195,851
2023-24	160	£179,024	£20,143	£25,393	£9,693	£234,252
2024-25	164	£210,355	£20,690	£23,233	£9,796	£264,074
2025-26	59	—	£4,685	£5,701	—	£10,386

A year in which Lee Anderson 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, 2022-23

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£153,259

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Stationery & printing	29	£8,509
Rent	12	£5,622
Software & applications	13	£1,203
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	10	£1,115
Advertising and contact cards	4	£950
Working From Home Allowance	1	£631

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Hotel - London	40	£16,595

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	2	£4,618
Hotel - London	1	£525
Mileage - car	2	£519
Congestion charge & toll	1	£205
Hotel - UK Not London	1	£67
Taxi	1	£41

Largest claims, 2022-23

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 2023	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year	£153,259	£153,259
31 January 2023	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	Leaflet for constituents regarding support with cost of living.	£4,635	£4,635
31 March 2023	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£4,167	£4,167
28 October 2022	Accommodation	Hotel - London	[*][][**]	£700	£700
8 September 2022	Accommodation	Hotel - London	[*][][**]	£700	£700
19 June 2022	Accommodation	Hotel - London	[*][][**]	£700	£700
1 September 2022	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	Banner October 2022	£682	£682
1 December 2022	Office Costs	Rent	—	£672	£672
21 July 2022	Accommodation	Hotel - London	[*] [*]	£665	£665
31 March 2023	Office Costs	Working From Home Allowance	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2022-23	£631	£631
31 December 2022	Office Costs	Software & applications	ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES	£600	£600
28 April 2022	Accommodation	Hotel - London	[*] [*]	£560	£560
23 February 2023	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	Maintenance fee for DS-40i folder inserter.	£536	£536
31 March 2023	Staff Travel	Hotel - London	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£525	£525
15 December 2022	Accommodation	Hotel - London	[*][][**]	£525	£525

Claims refused and money repaid, 2022-23

2 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £540 repaid. A refusal is not a finding of wrongdoing — most are claims outside the scheme’s rules, or submitted without the evidence IPSA requires — and it is shown because leaving it out would show only the money that went out.

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 Lee Anderson 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 · Lee Anderson’s register of interests and votes · Sources