MPs’ business costs
Ben Lake
IPSA paid £1,466,088 against 882 published rows for Ben Lake between 2017-18 and 2025-26 as the member for Ceredigion CC, then Ceredigion Preseli 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, 2020-21
65 claims, £167,951 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. | 2 | £148,573 | 88.5% |
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 61 | £17,931 | 10.7% |
| 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. | 2 | £1,447 | 0.9% |
Every year in the register
Ben Lake’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 | 117 | £71,636 | £14,868 | £8,966 | £3,345 | £467 | £99,281 |
| 2018-19 | 136 | £126,813 | £14,608 | £6,025 | £5,128 | £1,323 | £153,897 |
| 2019-20 | 112 | £146,863 | £14,359 | £1,050 | £6,035 | £348 | £168,655 |
| 2020-21 | 65 | £148,573 | £17,931 | — | £1,447 | — | £167,951 |
| 2021-22 | 85 | £165,981 | £19,618 | — | £2,994 | — | £188,593 |
| 2022-23 | 104 | £174,578 | £18,818 | — | £4,764 | — | £198,161 |
| 2023-24 | 115 | £207,862 | £20,526 | — | £2,887 | — | £231,275 |
| 2024-25 | 114 | £223,507 | £19,005 | — | £8,284 | — | £250,796 |
| 2025-26 | 34 | — | £7,479 | — | — | — | £7,479 |
A year in which Ben Lake 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, 2020-21
The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.
Staffing
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll | 1 | £148,485 |
| Health & welfare - staff | 1 | £88 |
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Rent | 4 | £7,200 |
| Advertising and contact cards | 10 | £3,312 |
| Landline phone & internet - rental & usage | 13 | £2,121 |
| Equipment - hire | 5 | £1,755 |
| Working From Home Allowance | 1 | £1,742 |
| Software & applications | 2 | £660 |
Travel
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Mileage - car | 1 | £1,173 |
| Rail | 1 | £274 |
Largest claims, 2020-21
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 2021 | Staffing | Payroll | Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year | £148,485 | £148,485 |
| 19 January 2021 | Office Costs | Rent | — | £1,800 | £1,800 |
| 18 October 2020 | Office Costs | Rent | — | £1,800 | £1,800 |
| 15 July 2020 | Office Costs | Rent | — | £1,800 | £1,800 |
| 15 April 2020 | Office Costs | Rent | — | £1,800 | £1,800 |
| 31 March 2021 | Office Costs | Working From Home Allowance | Aggregated figure for 2020-21 | £1,742 | £1,742 |
| 31 March 2021 | MP Travel | Mileage - car | Aggregated figure for travel during 2020-21 | £1,173 | £1,173 |
| 5 June 2020 | Office Costs | Advertising and contact cards | Advert in Cambrian News | £732 | £732 |
| 1 May 2020 | Office Costs | Advertising and contact cards | Advertisement in the Cambrian News to thank key workers | £732 | £732 |
| 16 November 2020 | Office Costs | Software & applications | Annual hosting and support fee for Caseworker | £600 | £600 |
| 18 September 2020 | Office Costs | Advertising and contact cards | Advertisement in local news paper | £516 | £516 |
| 28 February 2021 | Office Costs | Advertising and contact cards | Advertisement in Welsh magazine 'Golwg' for job vacancy in constituency office | £435 | £435 |
| 1 January 2021 | Office Costs | Equipment - hire | Printer, photocopier & scanner | £412 | £412 |
| 1 October 2020 | Office Costs | Equipment - hire | Printer, photocopier & scanner | £412 | £412 |
| 21 June 2020 | Office Costs | Equipment - hire | Printer, photocopier & scanner | £412 | £412 |
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 Ben Lake 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 · Ben Lake’s register of interests and votes · Sources