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, 2018-19

154 claims, £195,555 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.	11	£142,195	72.7%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	97	£23,924	12.2%
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.	45	£22,202	11.4%
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.	1	£7,235	3.7%

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.

Year	Claims	Staffing	Office costs	Accommodation	Travel	Miscellaneous	Total
2017-18	92	£95,850	£20,840	£17,244	£2,859	£462	£137,255
2018-19	154	£142,195	£23,924	£22,202	£7,235	—	£195,555
2019-20	130	£154,132	£24,285	£18,839	£4,997	—	£202,253
2020-21	86	£171,128	£20,677	£20,392	£312	—	£212,509
2021-22	104	£186,411	£27,675	£22,684	£1,156	—	£237,926
2022-23	139	£199,795	£26,718	£20,745	£4,070	—	£251,327
2023-24	126	£218,132	£27,603	£26,084	£4,791	—	£276,610
2024-25	113	£242,552	£27,857	£28,013	£4,456	—	£302,878
2025-26	55	—	£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, 2018-19

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£126,757
Professional Services (Staff.)	6	£9,900
Pooled Services: Direct	1	£4,800
Staff Training Costs	1	£580
Volunteer Agreed Arrang. Costs	1	£83
Health and Welfare Costs	1	£75

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	5	£10,882
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	10	£4,193
Stationery Purchase	16	£2,206
Const Office Repairs	2	£1,286
Advertising	1	£1,080
Const Office Electricity	7	£1,005

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	13	£20,605
Council Tax	1	£711
Electricity	16	£520
Service Charges	2	£168
Hotel London Area	1	£93
Water	8	£70

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£7,235

Largest claims, 2018-19

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 2019	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year	£126,757	£126,757
31 March 2019	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2018-19	£7,235	£7,235
1 April 2018	Staffing	Pooled Services: Direct	PRS	£4,800	£4,800
17 December 2018	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£3,000	£3,000
13 September 2018	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£3,000	£3,000
19 June 2018	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£3,000	£3,000
21 January 2019	Staffing	Professional Services (Staff.)	Policy Research	£2,700	£2,700
8 October 2018	Staffing	Professional Services (Staff.)	Policy research	£2,700	£2,700
22 August 2018	Staffing	Professional Services (Staff.)	Policy research	£1,800	£1,800
26 February 2019	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,733	£1,733
29 January 2019	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,733	£1,733
19 December 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,733	£1,733
22 November 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,733	£1,733
24 October 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,733	£1,733
25 September 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,733	£1,733

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