Civometry

MPs’ business costs

Dame Caroline Dinenage

IPSA paid £2,598,090 against 2,292 published rows for Dame Caroline Dinenage between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Gosport 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, 2025-26

71 claims, £22,255 paid. The headings are IPSA’s own categories grouped; the categories inside each are named on the register page.

CategoryWhat it coversClaimsPaidShare
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.53£20,56892.4%
AccommodationThe 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.18£1,6887.6%

Every year in the register

Dame Caroline Dinenage’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2010-11 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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2010-11129£66,186£9,925£11,080£5,169—£92,360
2011-12236£93,393£14,913£20,433£5,033£21£133,794
2012-13239£104,070£13,472£19,436£5,084—£142,061
2013-14162£97,477£13,209£14,250£4,881£234£130,052
2014-15123£114,981£12,765£9,948£4,586—£142,279
2015-16115£114,463£17,444£9,932£3,953—£145,790
2016-17134£105,325£15,035£16,313£5,822—£142,494
2017-18111£106,398£20,647£16,757£4,808—£148,610
2018-19135£124,145£20,317£15,315£4,893—£164,669
2019-20120£142,588£21,330£15,750£4,293—£183,961
2020-21144£135,617£29,367£32,503£1,363—£198,849
2021-22120£143,845£18,073£32,116£4,262—£198,297
2022-23150£174,996£19,813£16,654£3,688—£215,152
2023-24153£202,707£25,643£18,546£4,842—£251,738
2024-25150£219,836£29,870£31,978£4,044—£285,728
2025-2671—£20,568£1,688——£22,255

A year in which Dame Caroline Dinenage 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 typeClaimsPaid
Stationery & printing9£4,273
Advertising and contact cards8£3,495
Postage & couriers1£3,282
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage12£3,246
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs1£1,793
Software & applications2£1,415

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Utilities18£1,688

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.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
12 January 2026Office CostsPostage & couriersJustin Tomlinson - Mailing of MP´s Annual Report£3,282£3,282
12 January 2026Office CostsStationery & printingPrinting of Annual Report£1,920£1,920
8 October 2025Office CostsMaintenance, Redecorations & RepairsBlanchard Wells Invoice - Replacing Signage which had become dilapidated.£1,793£1,793
14 October 2025Office CostsStationery & printingPrinting of Calendar Card for 2026 by Justin Tomlinson Ltd£1,170£1,170
28 August 2025Office CostsAdvertising and contact cardsGosport Borough Football Club Board for 25/26 season and replacement board. Approval sort from IPSA£959£959
23 October 2025Office CostsAdvertising and contact cardsSpeedyprint Advertising in Town Cryer Magazine£828£828
16 December 2025Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES£738£738
26 February 2026Office CostsSoftware & applicationsUpgrade to Caseworker System - Elected Technologies Invoice£677£677
27 November 2025Office CostsAdvertising and contact cardsDelivery of Calendar Cards by Footprint£513£513
4 November 2025Office CostsAdvertising and contact cardsFOOTPRINT£510£510
4 November 2025Office CostsAdvertising and contact cardsDelivery of Calendar Cards by Footprint£510£510
29 May 2025Office CostsVenue hire, meetings & surgeries—£432£432
8 September 2025Office CostsBought-in servicesComms & Media£380£380
30 June 2025Office CostsStationery & printingSUPERIOR OFFICE SUPPLI£367£367
1 February 2026Office CostsWebsite hosting and designBluetree Website Hosting and Design£360£360

Claims refused and money repaid, 2025-26

2 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £571 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 Dame Caroline Dinenage 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 · Dame Caroline Dinenage’s register of interests and votes · Sources