Civometry

MPs’ business costs

Pete Wishart

IPSA paid £3,070,348 against 2,185 published rows for Pete Wishart between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Perth and North Perthshire CC, then Perth and Kinross-shire 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, 2019-20

140 claims, £224,409 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.3£152,15067.8%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.98£22,38110.0%
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.18£22,2089.9%
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.21£27,66912.3%

Every year in the register

Pete Wishart’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 costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2010-1181£88,677£16,070£15,296£17,199—£137,241
2011-12131£108,998£21,722£17,885£20,887—£169,492
2012-13142£110,870£22,135£20,125£22,349—£175,478
2013-14135£113,800£18,192£19,020£23,229£4,336£178,577
2014-15166£112,870£17,209£17,919£21,340£5,185£174,523
2015-16163£103,119£32,074£20,349£21,424—£176,966
2016-17145£105,523£21,919£18,510£24,025—£169,978
2017-18178£131,811£22,740£21,647£15,957—£192,155
2018-19177£136,706£24,093£23,251£32,121—£216,171
2019-20140£152,150£22,381£22,208£27,669—£224,409
2020-21139£169,801£23,225£20,811£4,806£1,130£219,772
2021-22117£150,078£21,859£23,173£16,516—£211,626
2022-23129£164,347£21,220£25,116£30,928£244£241,855
2023-24150£183,220£25,902£26,136£32,785—£268,042
2024-25127£210,487£26,191£28,656£31,654—£296,989
2025-2665—£14,494£2,579——£17,073

A year in which Pete Wishart 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, 2019-20

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£139,201
Pooled staffing services1£10,850
Bought-in services1£2,099

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent17£10,230
Equipment - purchase5£2,996
Advertising and contact cards16£1,939
Utilities9£1,845
Cleaning services19£1,423
Website hosting and design4£1,105

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent11£20,258
Utilities5£1,259
Council tax1£691
MP Budget Overspend1£0

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Air travel3£17,964
Rail5£3,212
Hotel - London1£2,625
Parking3£1,962
Mileage - car3£543
Taxi1£430

Largest claims, 2019-20

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 2020StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year£139,201£139,201
31 March 2020MP TravelAir travelAggregated figure for travel during 2019-20£13,716£13,716
13 May 2019StaffingPooled staffing servicesScottish National Party Research Team (SNP)£10,850£10,850
31 March 2020Staff TravelAir travelAggregated figure for travel during 2019-20£3,574£3,574
31 March 2020Staff TravelHotel - LondonAggregated figure for travel during 2019-20£2,625£2,625
13 September 2019StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£2,099£2,099
31 March 2020MP TravelParkingAggregated figure for travel during 2019-20£1,845£1,845
25 March 2020AccommodationRent—£1,842£1,842
26 February 2020AccommodationRent—£1,842£1,842
29 January 2020AccommodationRent—£1,842£1,842
26 December 2019AccommodationRent—£1,842£1,842
29 November 2019AccommodationRentDirect rental payment£1,842£1,842
24 October 2019AccommodationRentDirect rental payment£1,842£1,842
25 September 2019AccommodationRentDirect rental payment£1,842£1,842
23 August 2019AccommodationRentDirect rental payment£1,842£1,842

Claims refused and money repaid, 2019-20

2 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £2,468 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 Pete Wishart 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 · Pete Wishart’s register of interests and votes · Sources