Civometry

MPs’ business costs

Alex Easton

IPSA paid £216,086 against 212 published rows for Alex Easton between 2024-25 and 2025-26 as the member for North Down 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 to 2025-26

212 claims, £216,086 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.4£124,25457.5%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.162£47,87222.2%
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.35£8,8384.1%
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.11£35,12316.3%

Every year in the register

Alex Easton’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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelTotal
2024-25141£124,002£29,336£2,055£35,123£190,515
2025-2671£252£18,536£6,783—£25,571

A year in which Alex Easton 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 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£123,544
Bought-in services1£252
Training - staff1£250
Working From Home Allowance1£208

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Equipment - purchase30£8,147
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs9£6,945
Bought-in services4£6,238
Rent11£6,200
Business rates3£5,047
Stationery & printing42£3,308

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Hotel - London35£8,838

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Air travel2£24,359
Hotel - London2£9,532
Rail2£594
Parking1£400
Other public transport3£229
Subsistence1£8

Largest claims, 2024-25 to 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.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
31 March 2025StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year£123,544£123,544
31 March 2025MP TravelAir travelAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£15,466£15,466
31 March 2025Staff TravelAir travelAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£8,893£8,893
31 March 2025Staff TravelHotel - LondonAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£5,300£5,300
31 March 2025MP TravelHotel - LondonAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£4,232£4,232
27 March 2025Office CostsBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£4,184£4,184
16 January 2026Office CostsMaintenance, Redecorations & RepairsFIRE SAFETY SOLUTIONS£3,353£3,353
10 April 2025Office CostsBusiness ratesRates for constituency office£3,031£3,031
18 October 2024Office CostsEquipment - purchaseOffice furniture£1,767£1,767
22 October 2025Office CostsMaintenance, Redecorations & RepairsFIRE SAFETY SOLUTIONS£1,614£1,614
18 August 2025Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES£1,476£1,476
21 October 2024Office CostsBusiness rates01 Oct 2024 - 31st March 2024£1,463£1,463
24 October 2024Office CostsEquipment - purchaseOffice furniture£1,411£1,411
12 December 2025Office CostsBought-in servicesAdministrative services£1,143£1,143
1 April 2025Office CostsRent—£833£833

Claims refused and money repaid, 2024-25 to 2025-26

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £304 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 Alex Easton 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 · Alex Easton’s register of interests and votes · Sources