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, 2013-14

192 claims, £178,362 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£120,54267.6%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.168£20,04711.2%
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.22£20,76411.6%
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£17,0099.5%

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, 2013-14

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£120,542

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Const Office Rent6£8,031
Stationery Purchase78£3,214
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental12£1,896
Const Office Gas9£1,361
Computer HW Purchase4£1,162
Const Office Buildings Insur.1£723

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Accommodation Rent12£18,200
Council Tax2£1,839
Gas3£347
Water3£259
Electricity2£119

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Aggregated Travel Costs1£17,009

Largest claims, 2013-14

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 2014StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2013-14 year£120,542£120,542
31 March 2014TravelAggregated Travel CostsAggregated figure for travel during 2013-14£17,009£17,009
18 February 2014Office CostsConst Office Rent£2,000£2,000
18 November 2013Office CostsConst Office Rent£2,000£2,000
15 August 2013Office CostsConst Office Rent£2,000£2,000
15 May 2013Office CostsConst Office Rent£2,000£2,000
5 March 2014AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,517£1,517
3 February 2014AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,517£1,517
19 December 2013AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,517£1,517
5 December 2013AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,517£1,517
4 November 2013AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,517£1,517
2 October 2013AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,517£1,517
5 September 2013AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,517£1,517
5 August 2013AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,517£1,517
3 July 2013AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,517£1,517

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