MPs’ business costs

Sarah Champion

IPSA paid £2,480,126 against 2,590 published rows for Sarah Champion between 2012-13 and 2025-26 as the member for Rotherham BC. 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, 2022-23

187 claims, £220,365 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
Staffing	The 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.	2	£167,100	75.8%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	144	£20,371	9.2%
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.	25	£23,534	10.7%
Travel	Journeys 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.	16	£9,360	4.2%

Every year in the register

Sarah Champion’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2012-13 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	Starting up and winding up	Total
2012-13	115	£17,152	£7,156	£7,927	£4,686	£5,689	£42,611
2013-14	297	£104,933	£20,719	£19,674	£13,123	£231	£158,681
2014-15	235	£154,597	£20,101	£18,423	£15,783	—	£208,905
2015-16	191	£119,265	£19,801	£15,884	£12,177	—	£167,127
2016-17	187	£141,362	£20,190	£19,661	£10,029	—	£191,241
2017-18	163	£123,646	£20,473	£21,426	£6,203	—	£171,748
2018-19	167	£121,934	£17,245	£22,215	£10,171	—	£171,566
2019-20	215	£132,843	£23,277	£21,624	£9,883	—	£187,628
2020-21	173	£130,582	£22,837	£21,891	£1,669	—	£176,979
2021-22	185	£157,212	£23,857	£22,694	£9,525	—	£213,288
2022-23	187	£167,100	£20,371	£23,534	£9,360	—	£220,365
2023-24	217	£190,246	£27,683	£25,742	£10,221	—	£253,892
2024-25	186	£229,402	£22,961	£27,139	£11,689	—	£291,191
2025-26	72	£143	£23,593	£1,168	—	—	£24,905

A year in which Sarah Champion 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, 2022-23

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£162,900
Pooled staffing services	1	£4,200

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	12	£6,259
Equipment - purchase	5	£4,103
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	25	£2,593
Stationery & printing	24	£2,103
Software & applications	15	£1,435
Advertising and contact cards	7	£1,316

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	12	£22,554
Council tax	1	£648
Utilities	12	£331

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	7	£7,559
Air travel	1	£669
Mileage - car	3	£343
Railcard	1	£316
Hotel - European	1	£231
Other public transport	1	£160

Largest claims, 2022-23

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
31 March 2023	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year	£162,900	£162,900
31 March 2023	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£7,362	£7,362
18 May 2022	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£4,200	£4,200
28 February 2023	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Computer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories	£2,526	£2,526
16 March 2023	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,900	£1,900
16 February 2023	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,900	£1,900
17 January 2023	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,900	£1,900
15 December 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,900	£1,900
15 November 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,900	£1,900
18 October 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,900	£1,900
15 September 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,900	£1,900
16 August 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,900	£1,900
28 July 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,900	£1,900
16 June 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,818	£1,818
17 May 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,818	£1,818

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 Sarah Champion 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 · Sarah Champion’s register of interests and votes · Sources