MPs’ business costs

Simon Hoare

IPSA paid £2,107,957 against 1,192 published rows for Simon Hoare between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for North Dorset 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, 2020-21

124 claims, £214,680 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.	1	£165,656	77.2%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	89	£15,893	7.4%
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.	32	£32,502	15.1%
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.	2	£629	0.3%

Every year in the register

Simon Hoare’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2015-16 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	Miscellaneous	Total
2015-16	79	£108,447	£9,117	£17,073	£6,780	£3,259	£3,311	£147,987
2016-17	60	£140,158	£12,436	£18,635	£6,147	—	—	£177,376
2017-18	93	£148,129	£11,524	£32,155	£5,690	—	—	£197,498
2018-19	100	£149,378	£12,529	£32,245	£5,710	—	—	£199,862
2019-20	110	£145,644	£12,953	£32,314	£7,117	—	—	£198,028
2020-21	124	£165,656	£15,893	£32,502	£629	—	—	£214,680
2021-22	113	£158,305	£15,469	£31,400	£4,588	—	—	£209,762
2022-23	122	£164,339	£18,796	£32,997	£4,756	—	—	£220,888
2023-24	143	£179,798	£22,228	£33,658	£4,455	—	£4,269	£244,408
2024-25	159	£210,880	£20,700	£33,514	£5,580	—	£3,535	£274,210
2025-26	89	—	£16,679	£5,911	—	—	£666	£23,256

A year in which Simon Hoare 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, 2020-21

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£165,656

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Pooled staffing services	1	£3,047
Rent	4	£2,812
Utilities	10	£2,504
Advertising and contact cards	4	£1,950
Stationery & printing	23	£1,298
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	22	£1,033

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	12	£27,000
Utilities	10	£3,252
Council tax	9	£2,250
MP Budget Overspend	1	£0

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Mileage - car	1	£554
Congestion charge & toll	1	£75

Largest claims, 2020-21

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 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£165,656	£165,656
27 May 2020	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Policy Research Unit (Conservative)	£3,047	£3,047
1 March 2021	Accommodation	Rent	Rent March 2021	£2,250	£2,250
1 February 2021	Accommodation	Rent	Rent Feb 2021	£2,250	£2,250
1 January 2021	Accommodation	Rent	Rent January 2021	£2,250	£2,250
1 December 2020	Accommodation	Rent	Rent December 2020	£2,250	£2,250
1 November 2020	Accommodation	Rent	Rent November 2020	£2,250	£2,250
1 October 2020	Accommodation	Rent	Rent October 2020	£2,250	£2,250
1 September 2020	Accommodation	Rent	Rent September 2020	£2,250	£2,250
1 August 2020	Accommodation	Rent	Rent August 2020	£2,250	£2,250
1 July 2020	Accommodation	Rent	Rent July 2020	£2,250	£2,250
1 June 2020	Accommodation	Rent	Rent June 2020	£2,250	£2,250
1 May 2020	Accommodation	Rent	Rent May 2020	£2,250	£2,250
1 April 2020	Accommodation	Rent	Rent April 2020	£2,250	£2,250
31 March 2021	Office Costs	Working From Home Allowance	Aggregated figure for 2020-21	£935	£935

Claims refused and money repaid, 2020-21

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £1,094 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 Simon Hoare 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 · Simon Hoare’s register of interests and votes · Sources