MPs’ business costs

Alex Norris

IPSA paid £1,829,454 against 999 published rows for Alex Norris between 2017-18 and 2025-26 as the member for Nottingham North BC, then Nottingham North and Kimberley 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, 2017-18 to 2025-26

999 claims, £1,829,454 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.47£1,410,19477.1%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.717£209,54111.5%
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.196£179,3819.8%
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.38£29,8761.6%
MiscellaneousClaims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.1£4620.0%

Every year in the register

Alex Norris’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2017-18 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 costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2017-1892£95,850£20,840£17,244£2,859£462£137,255
2018-19154£142,195£23,924£22,202£7,235£195,555
2019-20130£154,132£24,285£18,839£4,997£202,253
2020-2186£171,128£20,677£20,392£312£212,509
2021-22104£186,411£27,675£22,684£1,156£237,926
2022-23139£199,795£26,718£20,745£4,070£251,327
2023-24126£218,132£27,603£26,084£4,791£276,610
2024-25113£242,552£27,857£28,013£4,456£302,878
2025-2655£9,963£3,179£13,141

A year in which Alex Norris 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, 2017-18 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll8£1,320,666
Bought-in services19£51,480
Pooled staffing services4£16,900
Professional Services (Staff.)6£9,900
Pooled Services: Direct2£8,400
Training - staff2£1,440

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent23£76,999
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage72£20,643
Const Office Rent6£14,978
Utilities132£13,325
Stationery & printing70£8,492
Pooled staffing services2£7,800

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent48£124,734
Accommodation Rent25£36,015
Council tax11£8,947
Utilities67£6,254
Hotel London Area4£1,240
Council Tax3£1,230

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Aggregated Travel Costs2£10,094
Rail17£9,842
Mileage - car4£9,652
Other public transport9£131
Parking5£91
Hotel - London1£67

Miscellaneous

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Removal Costs - Contingency1£462

Largest claims, 2017-18 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£237,640£237,640
31 March 2024StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year£207,380£207,380
31 March 2023StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year£183,669£183,669
31 March 2022StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year£174,531£174,531
31 March 2021StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year£157,808£157,808
31 March 2020StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year£140,632£140,632
31 March 2019StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year£126,757£126,757
31 March 2018StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year£92,250£92,250
31 March 2025AccommodationRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£26,218£26,218
31 March 2022AccommodationRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22£20,340£20,340
31 March 2025Office CostsRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£15,302£15,302
31 March 2019TravelAggregated Travel CostsAggregated figure for travel during 2018-19£7,235£7,235
26 March 2018Office CostsConst Office RepairsElectrical installation£5,114£5,114
1 April 2018StaffingPooled Services: DirectPRS£4,800£4,800
12 April 2024StaffingPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£4,600£4,600

Claims refused and money repaid, 2017-18 to 2025-26

10 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £1,274 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 Norris 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 Norris’s register of interests and votes · Sources