MPs’ business costs

Mr Lee Dillon

IPSA paid £227,032 against 211 published rows for Mr Lee Dillon between 2024-25 and 2025-26 as the member for Newbury 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, 2024-25 to 2025-26

211 claims, £227,032 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.6£148,65365.5%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.179£39,72417.5%
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.13£32,87514.5%
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.13£5,7802.5%

Every year in the register

Mr Lee Dillon’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2024-25 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 costsAccommodationTravelTotal
2024-25156£148,653£27,023£32,875£5,780£214,331
2025-2655£12,701£12,701

A year in which Mr Lee Dillon 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, 2024-25 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£142,119
Pooled staffing services1£4,900
Recruitment Services &Costs2£1,150
Training - staff1£439
Working From Home Allowance1£46

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent5£8,909
Service charge & ground Rent9£7,317
Equipment - purchase14£4,862
Stationery & printing75£4,268
Software & applications7£3,716
Cleaning services17£2,089

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent9£31,156
Council tax1£1,053
Hotel - London2£590
Venue hire, meetings & surgeries1£75

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail4£3,032
Mileage - car3£1,665
Air travel1£348
Hotel - European1£325
Congestion charge & toll1£318
Parking1£32

Largest claims, 2024-25 to 2025-26

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 2025StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year£142,119£142,119
16 August 2024StaffingPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Support Team (Liberal Democrat)£4,900£4,900
11 March 2025AccommodationRent£4,000£4,000
11 February 2025AccommodationRent£4,000£4,000
9 January 2025AccommodationRent£4,000£4,000
10 December 2024AccommodationRent£4,000£4,000
12 November 2024AccommodationRent£4,000£4,000
8 October 2024AccommodationRent£4,000£4,000
10 September 2024AccommodationRent£4,000£4,000
12 August 2024AccommodationRentLee Dillon - First month´s Rent - [***]£4,000£4,000
1 April 2025Office CostsRent£3,318£3,318
30 December 2024Office CostsRent£3,318£3,318
1 October 2024Office CostsRent£3,318£3,318
18 September 2024Office CostsRent[***]£2,018£2,018
31 March 2025Staff TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£1,968£1,968

Claims refused and money repaid, 2024-25 to 2025-26

3 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £205 not paid and £1,740 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 Mr Lee Dillon 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 · Mr Lee Dillon’s register of interests and votes · Sources

Mr Lee Dillon: business costs paid by IPSA, 2024-25 to 2025-26 | Civometry