MPs’ business costs
Dr Ben Spencer
IPSA paid £1,266,946 against 730 published rows for Dr Ben Spencer between 2019-20 and 2025-26 as the member for Runnymede and Weybridge 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, 2025-26
58 claims, £14,029 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 58 | £14,029 | 100.0% |
Every year in the register
Dr Ben Spencer’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2019-20 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | 69 | £34,995 | £6,258 | £24 | — | £41,277 |
| 2020-21 | 70 | £181,267 | £16,376 | £147 | — | £197,790 |
| 2021-22 | 129 | £207,883 | £19,030 | £1,286 | — | £228,199 |
| 2022-23 | 163 | £218,649 | £37,224 | £3,664 | — | £259,537 |
| 2023-24 | 128 | £227,060 | £33,162 | £4,781 | — | £265,003 |
| 2024-25 | 113 | £228,059 | £27,538 | £4,914 | £600 | £261,111 |
| 2025-26 | 58 | — | £14,029 | — | — | £14,029 |
A year in which Dr Ben Spencer 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, 2025-26
The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Service charge & ground Rent | 4 | £7,628 |
| Software & applications | 14 | £2,282 |
| Utilities | 8 | £1,043 |
| Stationery & printing | 14 | £1,029 |
| TV licence | 2 | £349 |
| Newspapers, journals, magazines | 2 | £296 |
Largest claims, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 December 2025 | Office Costs | Service charge & ground Rent | STILES HAROLD WILLIAMS | £1,958 | £1,958 |
| 23 May 2025 | Office Costs | Service charge & ground Rent | STILES HAROLD WILLIAMS | £1,958 | £1,958 |
| 2 April 2025 | Office Costs | Service charge & ground Rent | STILES HAROLD WILLIAMS | £1,958 | £1,958 |
| 29 September 2025 | Office Costs | Service charge & ground Rent | STILES HAROLD WILLIAMS | £1,755 | £1,755 |
| 16 December 2025 | Office Costs | Software & applications | ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES | £738 | £738 |
| 20 January 2026 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | Banner February 2026 | £559 | £559 |
| 5 February 2025 | Office Costs | Software & applications | ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES [200011725-762] [200011793-226] | £509 | £509 |
| 19 August 2025 | Office Costs | Utilities | Electricity | £452 | £452 |
| 29 October 2025 | Office Costs | Software & applications | CANVA [***] | £270 | £270 |
| 6 January 2026 | Office Costs | Translation services - other languages | SUMUP SIGHT-FOR-SURR | £264 | £264 |
| 22 April 2025 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | XMA May 2025 | £223 | £223 |
| 22 April 2025 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | XMA May 2025 | £223 | £223 |
| 20 January 2026 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | Banner February 2026 | £184 | £184 |
| 20 January 2026 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | Banner February 2026 | £184 | £184 |
| 2 February 2026 | Office Costs | TV licence | TVLICENSING.CO.UK | £175 | £175 |
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 Dr Ben Spencer 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 · Dr Ben Spencer’s register of interests and votes · Sources