MPs’ business costs

Richard Baker

IPSA paid £191,791 against 150 published rows for Richard Baker between 2024-25 and 2025-26 as the member for Glenrothes and Mid Fife 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, 2025-26

31 claims, £12,658 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
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	21	£9,719	76.8%
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.	10	£2,939	23.2%

Every year in the register

Richard Baker’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.

Year	Claims	Staffing	Office costs	Accommodation	Travel	Total
2024-25	119	£115,853	£20,960	£18,259	£24,061	£179,133
2025-26	31	—	£9,719	£2,939	—	£12,658

A year in which Richard Baker 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, 2025-26

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

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Advertising and contact cards	5	£3,977
Stationery & printing	5	£2,163
Software & applications	1	£1,476
Postage & couriers	2	£1,174
Venue hire, meetings & surgeries	2	£376
Equipment - purchase	3	£326

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Council tax	10	£2,939

Largest claims, 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.

Date	Category	Cost type	Description	Claimed	Paid
10 September 2025	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	WINTER AND SIMPSON	£2,491	£2,491
29 September 2025	Office Costs	Software & applications	ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES	£1,476	£1,476
8 October 2025	Office Costs	Postage & couriers	WINTER AND SIMPSON	£956	£956
22 April 2025	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	WINTER AND SIMPSON	£670	£670
3 February 2026	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	XMA March 2026	£609	£609
9 February 2026	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	XMA March 2026	£408	£408
2 February 2026	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	XMA March 2026	£408	£408
2 February 2026	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	XMA March 2026	£408	£408
25 March 2026	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	Advertising board for contact details for office with Glenrothes FC	£350	£350
2 February 2026	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	XMA March 2026	£332	£332
12 January 2026	Accommodation	Council tax	Council Tax for London Accommodation	£294	£294
10 December 2025	Accommodation	Council tax	Council Tax for London Accommodation	£294	£294
10 November 2025	Accommodation	Council tax	Council Tax for London Accommodation	£294	£294
10 October 2025	Accommodation	Council tax	Council Tax for London Accommodation	£294	£294
10 September 2025	Accommodation	Council tax	Council Tax for London Accommodation	£294	£294

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 Richard Baker 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 · Richard Baker’s register of interests and votes · Sources