MPs’ business costs

Carla Lockhart

IPSA paid £1,303,698 against 664 published rows for Carla Lockhart between 2019-20 and 2025-26 as the member for Upper Bann 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, 2021-22

88 claims, £252,316 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.	1	£183,709	72.8%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	57	£33,184	13.2%
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.	16	£25,242	10.0%
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.	14	£10,181	4.0%

Every year in the register

Carla Lockhart’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	Accommodation	Travel	Total
2019-20	42	£30,810	£3,805	£1,575	£9,369	£45,558
2020-21	131	£170,675	£32,030	£27,025	£11,420	£241,150
2021-22	88	£183,709	£33,184	£25,242	£10,181	£252,316
2022-23	106	£178,144	£27,610	£25,423	£17,010	£248,188
2023-24	114	£181,669	£26,461	£5,469	£15,040	£228,639
2024-25	98	£204,743	£30,117	£7,110	£18,912	£260,881
2025-26	85	£1,924	£17,868	£7,174	—	£26,966

A year in which Carla Lockhart 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, 2021-22

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£183,709

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs	6	£13,240
Rent	1	£6,708
Business rates	2	£5,465
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	9	£1,821
Utilities	4	£1,550
Stationery & printing	8	£1,118

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	13	£22,857
Utilities	2	£1,403
Council tax	1	£982

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Air travel	4	£7,873
Mileage - car	4	£1,201
Parking	1	£360
Other public transport	2	£278
Rail	2	£271
Railcard	1	£198

Largest claims, 2021-22

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 2022	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£183,709	£183,709
31 March 2022	Office Costs	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£6,708	£6,708
31 March 2022	MP Travel	Air travel	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£6,521	£6,521
26 March 2021	Office Costs	Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs	renovations to update for access and facilities	£5,982	£5,982
14 November 2021	Office Costs	Business rates	11 Months rates for constituency office for May 2021-Mar 2022	£5,229	£5,229
4 June 2021	Office Costs	Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs	Further new office refurb costs	£3,780	£3,780
22 March 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,123	£2,123
22 February 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,123	£2,123
18 January 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,123	£2,123
21 December 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,123	£2,123
18 November 2021	Accommodation	Rent	Rent	£2,123	£2,123
19 October 2021	Accommodation	Rent	Rent	£2,123	£2,123
21 September 2021	Accommodation	Rent	Rent	£2,123	£2,123
19 August 2021	Accommodation	Rent	Rent	£2,123	£2,123
20 July 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£2,123	£2,123

Claims refused and money repaid, 2021-22

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £90 not paid and £0 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 Carla Lockhart 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 · Carla Lockhart’s register of interests and votes · Sources