MPs’ business costs

Pamela Nash

IPSA paid £969,131 against 906 published rows for Pamela Nash between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Airdrie and Shotts CC, then Motherwell, Wishaw and Carluke 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

67 claims, £85,264 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.1£51,79760.7%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.48£10,28512.1%
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.17£16,40019.2%
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£6,7838.0%

Every year in the register

Pamela Nash’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 costsAccommodationTravelStarting up and winding upMiscellaneousTotal
2010-1167£51,797£10,285£16,400£6,783£85,264
2011-12148£83,709£25,671£18,104£14,326£7,280£149,090
2012-13185£117,104£22,984£23,570£18,899£282£182,839
2013-14192£120,542£20,047£20,764£17,009£178,362
2014-15169£132,827£21,536£19,257£20,499£194,119
2015-1654£13,489£2,535£1,859£1,508£46,917£3,862£70,170
2024-2567£63,996£7,560£18,847£11,835£102,238
2025-2624£5,257£1,791£7,048

A year in which Pamela Nash 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£51,797

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Const Office Rent2£3,344
Professional Services4£2,616
Office Furniture Purchase4£1,724
Stationery Purchase11£944
Other16£865
Contents Insurance1£319

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Accommodation Rent11£15,950
Electricity3£308
Gas3£142

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Aggregated Travel Costs1£6,783

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£51,797£51,797
31 March 2011TravelAggregated Travel CostsAggregated figure for travel during 2010-11£6,783£6,783
10 December 2010Office CostsConst Office RentRent 1£2,625£2,625
30 March 2011Office CostsOffice Furniture PurchaseReception Desk/Fire Extinguish£1,487£1,487
28 March 2011AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,450£1,450
25 February 2011AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,450£1,450
26 January 2011AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,450£1,450
8 January 2011AccommodationAccommodation RentFlat Rent Dec 2010£1,450£1,450
24 December 2010AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,450£1,450
1 November 2010AccommodationAccommodation RentRent for Flat Oct and Nov 2010£1,450£1,450
1 October 2010AccommodationAccommodation RentRent for Flat Oct and Nov 2010£1,450£1,450
21 September 2010AccommodationAccommodation RentLondon Flat Rent 2010£1,450£1,450
21 September 2010AccommodationAccommodation RentLondon Flat Rent 2010£1,450£1,450
21 September 2010AccommodationAccommodation RentLondon Flat Rent 2010£1,450£1,450
21 September 2010AccommodationAccommodation RentLondon Flat Rent 2010£1,450£1,450

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 Pamela Nash 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 · Pamela Nash’s register of interests and votes · Sources