MPs’ business costs

Wendy Chamberlain

IPSA paid £1,364,326 against 646 published rows for Wendy Chamberlain between 2019-20 and 2025-26 as the member for North East 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, 2024-25

137 claims, £309,302 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	£243,717	78.8%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	112	£19,502	6.3%
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.	3	£30,498	9.9%
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.	20	£15,584	5.0%

Every year in the register

Wendy Chamberlain’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2019-20 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	Miscellaneous	Total
2019-20	41	£25,757	£5,829	£9,762	£5,821	£460	£47,629
2020-21	73	£162,216	£12,128	£23,804	£4,284	—	£202,431
2021-22	69	£179,264	£12,055	£25,909	£9,516	—	£226,745
2022-23	147	£211,758	£23,654	£26,840	£12,011	—	£274,264
2023-24	127	£226,930	£21,170	£29,502	£11,859	—	£289,461
2024-25	137	£243,717	£19,502	£30,498	£15,584	—	£309,302
2025-26	52	—	£12,051	£2,442	—	—	£14,494

A year in which Wendy Chamberlain 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, 2024-25

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£237,187
Pooled staffing services	1	£6,530

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	1	£6,098
Utilities	15	£4,401
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	17	£2,898
Cleaning services	15	£1,719
Stationery & printing	26	£1,380
Software & applications	4	£1,128

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	1	£28,167
Council tax	2	£2,332

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	6	£7,891
Air travel	4	£3,908
Hotel - London	1	£2,157
Mileage - car	2	£1,283
Hotel - European	1	£113
Hotel - UK Not London	1	£104

Largest claims, 2024-25

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 2025	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year	£237,187	£237,187
31 March 2025	Accommodation	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25	£28,167	£28,167
23 May 2024	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Support Team (Liberal Democrat)	£6,530	£6,530
31 March 2025	Office Costs	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25	£6,098	£6,098
31 March 2025	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2024-25	£5,025	£5,025
31 March 2025	MP Travel	Air travel	Aggregated figure for travel during 2024-25	£3,059	£3,059
31 March 2025	Staff Travel	Hotel - London	Aggregated figure for travel during 2024-25	£2,157	£2,157
17 April 2024	Accommodation	Council tax	LONDON BOROUGH OF LAMB	£1,950	£1,950
31 March 2025	Staff Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2024-25	£1,659	£1,659
4 June 2024	Office Costs	Utilities	Electricity	£1,543	£1,543
31 March 2025	MP Travel	Mileage - car	Aggregated figure for travel during 2024-25	£1,248	£1,248
4 March 2025	Office Costs	Utilities	Electricity	£1,132	£1,132
5 December 2024	Office Costs	Utilities	Electricity	£1,038	£1,038
31 March 2025	Dependant Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2024-25	£785	£785
23 December 2024	Office Costs	Software & applications	ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES	£720	£720

Claims refused and money repaid, 2024-25

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £104 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 Wendy Chamberlain 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 · Wendy Chamberlain’s register of interests and votes · Sources