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, 2023-24

126 claims, £276,610 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.5£218,13278.9%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.86£27,60310.0%
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.29£26,0849.4%
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.6£4,7911.7%

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.

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, 2023-24

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£207,380
Bought-in services2£5,940
Pooled staffing services1£4,500
Working From Home Allowance1£312

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent4£15,600
Utilities27£3,689
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage12£3,531
Software & applications2£980
Stationery & printing8£938
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs3£591

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent12£23,250
Utilities16£1,717
Council tax1£1,117

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Mileage - car1£3,544
Rail2£1,215
Other public transport2£17
Parking1£16

Largest claims, 2023-24

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 2024StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year£207,380£207,380
28 April 2023StaffingPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£4,500£4,500
26 March 2024Office CostsRent£3,900£3,900
26 December 2023Office CostsRent£3,900£3,900
26 September 2023Office CostsRent£3,900£3,900
27 June 2023Office CostsRent£3,900£3,900
31 March 2024MP TravelMileage - carAggregated figure for travel during 2023-24£3,544£3,544
29 August 2023StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£2,970£2,970
1 June 2023StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£2,970£2,970
7 March 2024AccommodationRent£2,000£2,000
6 February 2024AccommodationRent£2,000£2,000
9 January 2024AccommodationRent£2,000£2,000
7 December 2023AccommodationRent£2,000£2,000
7 November 2023AccommodationRent£2,000£2,000
10 October 2023AccommodationRent£2,000£2,000

Claims refused and money repaid, 2023-24

2 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £359 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