Civometry

MPs’ business costs

Alistair Strathern

IPSA paid £405,706 against 295 published rows for Alistair Strathern between 2023-24 and 2025-26 as the member for Mid Bedfordshire CC, then Hitchin 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, 2023-24 to 2025-26

295 claims, £405,706 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.7£312,35377.0%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.266£79,15919.5%
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.6£6,7941.7%
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.14£5,8651.4%
MiscellaneousClaims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.2£1,5350.4%

Every year in the register

Alistair Strathern’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2023-24 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
2023-2487£64,572£19,537—£1,051—£85,160
2024-25145£247,781£35,910£6,794£4,814£171£295,470
2025-2663—£23,711——£1,364£25,076

A year in which Alistair Strathern 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 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll2£310,095
Training - staff1£1,020
Bought-in services1£564
Pooled staffing services1£563
Volunteer - agreed arrangement costs2£111

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent6£19,511
Advertising and contact cards13£12,617
Stationery & printing91£9,195
Postage & couriers7£9,121
Software & applications10£5,542
Insurance - buildings2£4,558

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent6£6,794

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail7£5,283
Air travel1£228
Hotel - UK Not London2£190
Subsistence1£64
Mileage - car1£51
Railcard1£35

Miscellaneous

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs1£1,364
Removals1£171

Largest claims, 2023-24 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£247,670£247,670
31 March 2024StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year£62,426£62,426
31 March 2025Office CostsRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£13,671£13,671
31 March 2025Staff TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£3,572£3,572
25 July 2025Office CostsAdvertising and contact cardsConstituency wide leaflet£3,283£3,283
8 April 2024Office CostsAdvertising and contact cardsPAYPAL ROYALMAILGR [200010137-3134]£3,244£3,244
5 November 2024Office CostsEquipment - purchaseOffice furniture£3,210£3,210
14 July 2025Office CostsInsurance - buildingsBuildings Insurance June 2025-26£3,137£3,137
25 July 2025Office CostsPostage & couriersROYAL MAIL DOOR TO DOO£2,879£2,879
29 December 2023Office CostsPostage & couriersROYAL MAIL DOOR TO DOO£2,843£2,843
8 August 2024Office CostsPostage & couriersPAYPAL ROYALMAILGR£2,696£2,696
12 November 2025Office CostsMaintenance, Redecorations & RepairsOutside refurbishment of office£2,034£2,034
30 April 2024Office CostsStationery & printingK P D CONSUMABLES LTD£1,973£1,973
15 October 2025Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES£1,476£1,476
5 February 2024Office CostsAdvertising and contact cardsWHITE HART PRESS LTD£1,456£1,456

Claims refused and money repaid, 2023-24 to 2025-26

6 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £1,540 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 Alistair Strathern 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 · Alistair Strathern’s register of interests and votes · Sources