MPs’ business costs

Brendan O'Hara

IPSA paid £2,546,894 against 1,998 published rows for Brendan O'Hara between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Argyll and Bute CC, then Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber 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, 2015-16 to 2025-26

1,998 claims, £2,546,894 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.	31	£1,711,988	67.2%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	1,375	£226,342	8.9%
Accommodation	The 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.	376	£250,472	9.8%
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.	191	£350,895	13.8%
Starting up and winding up	The one-off costs of opening an office on election and of closing one on leaving. These fall in the years around a general election and are absent from the rest.	22	£5,999	0.2%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	3	£1,199	0.0%

Every year in the register

Brendan O'Hara’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2015-16 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	Starting up and winding up	Miscellaneous	Total
2015-16	119	£95,959	£12,733	£23,470	£38,443	£3,400	—	£174,006
2016-17	233	£141,315	£23,827	£25,460	£41,849	£2,599	—	£235,050
2017-18	229	£148,102	£19,722	£28,215	£25,610	—	—	£221,649
2018-19	207	£152,926	£21,931	£28,458	£44,580	—	—	£247,895
2019-20	214	£143,174	£21,430	£26,152	£28,056	—	—	£218,812
2020-21	167	£155,008	£20,691	£19,737	£5,186	—	—	£200,622
2021-22	160	£185,949	£18,815	£21,477	£25,251	—	—	£251,492
2022-23	188	£208,831	£24,726	£22,063	£43,441	—	—	£299,060
2023-24	222	£229,940	£26,918	£25,319	£42,500	—	—	£324,678
2024-25	185	£250,784	£21,163	£28,871	£55,978	—	£1,199	£357,995
2025-26	74	—	£14,385	£1,250	—	—	—	£15,635

A year in which Brendan O'Hara 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, 2015-16 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	10	£1,613,136
Pooled staffing services	8	£65,501
Pooled Services	2	£18,509
Professional Services (Staff.)	1	£4,000
Staff Training Costs	3	£2,747
Pooled Services: Direct	1	£2,625

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Mobile telephone - contract & usage	89	£32,619
Rent	50	£30,600
Const Office Rent	47	£20,566
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	94	£16,769
Software & applications	79	£11,138
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	78	£11,080

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	44	£129,194
Accommodation Rent	57	£97,576
Council tax	58	£9,228
Council Tax	26	£5,151
Utilities	97	£5,134
Electricity	40	£2,290

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	4	£150,482
Air travel	30	£116,687
Mileage - car	33	£32,698
Hotel - London	6	£14,063
Parking	22	£12,911
Hotel - UK Not London	10	£10,259

Starting up and winding up

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Office Alterations StartUp	9	£2,575
Other Equipment Purch StartUp	2	£2,000
Office Furn Purch StartUp	4	£329
Landline Purch StartUp	1	£317
Office Consumables StartUp	1	£234
Business Rates	1	£200

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Removals	3	£1,199

Largest claims, 2015-16 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 2025	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year	£239,772	£239,772
31 March 2024	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year	£218,046	£218,046
31 March 2023	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year	£197,284	£197,284
31 March 2022	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£174,738	£174,738
31 March 2019	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year	£144,917	£144,917
31 March 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£142,083	£142,083
31 March 2017	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year	£141,315	£141,315
31 March 2018	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year	£131,036	£131,036
31 March 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£130,792	£130,792
31 March 2016	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year	£93,154	£93,154
31 March 2019	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2018-19	£44,580	£44,580
31 March 2017	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2016-17	£41,849	£41,849
31 March 2016	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2015-16	£38,443	£38,443
31 March 2025	Accommodation	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25	£26,178	£26,178
31 March 2018	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2017-18	£25,610	£25,610

Claims refused and money repaid, 2015-16 to 2025-26

15 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £365 not paid and £1,419 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 Brendan O'Hara 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 · Brendan O'Hara’s register of interests and votes · Sources