MPs’ business costs

Bambos Charalambous

IPSA paid £1,787,091 against 600 published rows for Bambos Charalambous between 2017-18 and 2025-26 as the member for Enfield, Southgate BC, then Southgate and Wood Green 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

600 claims, £1,787,091 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	£1,536,212	86.0%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	579	£245,580	13.7%
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.	7	£1,218	0.1%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	3	£4,082	0.2%

Every year in the register

Bambos Charalambous’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	Travel	Miscellaneous	Total
2017-18	40	£108,614	£19,420	£122	—	£128,156
2018-19	94	£163,158	£27,323	—	—	£190,481
2019-20	86	£166,657	£28,133	£245	£2,082	£197,117
2020-21	60	£191,433	£29,770	£52	£2,000	£223,255
2021-22	78	£199,390	£32,348	£445	—	£232,183
2022-23	61	£216,543	£25,941	—	—	£242,484
2023-24	75	£252,868	£34,279	£354	—	£287,501
2024-25	57	£237,549	£31,719	—	—	£269,268
2025-26	49	—	£16,646	—	—	£16,646

A year in which Bambos Charalambous 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 type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	8	£1,532,939
Training - staff	2	£2,148
Pooled staffing services	1	£1,125

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	21	£74,751
Stationery & printing	84	£23,917
Bought-in services	18	£16,850
Cleaning services	78	£16,655
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	68	£16,273
Utilities	66	£13,935

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Air travel	2	£711
Rail	1	£193
Taxi	3	£192
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£122

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Bought-in services	2	£2,082
Approved costs outside the Scheme	1	£2,000

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.

Date	Category	Cost type	Description	Claimed	Paid
31 March 2024	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year	£249,595	£249,595
31 March 2025	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year	£237,549	£237,549
31 March 2023	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year	£216,543	£216,543
31 March 2022	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£199,390	£199,390
31 March 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£191,433	£191,433
31 March 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£166,657	£166,657
31 March 2019	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year	£163,158	£163,158
31 March 2018	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year	£108,614	£108,614
31 March 2025	Office Costs	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25	£13,001	£13,001
29 March 2018	Office Costs	Const Office Repairs	Constituency Office - internal	£7,236	£7,236
26 March 2024	Office Costs	Rent	—	£3,250	£3,250
26 December 2023	Office Costs	Rent	—	£3,250	£3,250
26 September 2023	Office Costs	Rent	—	£3,250	£3,250
27 June 2023	Office Costs	Rent	—	£3,250	£3,250
23 March 2023	Office Costs	Rent	—	£3,250	£3,250

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

3 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £60 not paid and £1,429 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 Bambos Charalambous 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 · Bambos Charalambous’s register of interests and votes · Sources