MPs’ business costs

Caroline Nokes

IPSA paid £2,437,483 against 2,045 published rows for Caroline Nokes between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Romsey and Southampton North 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, 2012-13

100 claims, £119,263 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.	8	£85,480	71.7%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	74	£9,253	7.8%
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.	17	£16,911	14.2%
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.	1	£7,620	6.4%

Every year in the register

Caroline Nokes’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.

Year	Claims	Staffing	Office costs	Accommodation	Travel	Miscellaneous	Total
2010-11	69	£51,219	£1,593	£17,000	£3,934	—	£73,747
2011-12	104	£80,080	£9,746	£12,712	£6,055	—	£108,594
2012-13	100	£85,480	£9,253	£16,911	£7,620	—	£119,263
2013-14	151	£70,808	£10,172	£12,891	£7,916	—	£101,786
2014-15	92	£99,684	£8,049	£14,343	£9,341	—	£131,417
2015-16	100	£140,478	£17,407	£17,695	£8,263	—	£183,843
2016-17	104	£113,793	£17,920	£21,769	£7,752	—	£161,235
2017-18	104	£115,941	£11,780	£20,624	£10,048	—	£158,393
2018-19	132	£107,713	£14,819	£19,017	£10,435	—	£151,984
2019-20	199	£142,772	£13,554	£14,690	£10,258	—	£181,274
2020-21	215	£149,225	£26,636	£17,021	£4,094	—	£196,976
2021-22	166	£146,747	£11,879	£23,666	£6,632	—	£188,923
2022-23	127	£160,042	£11,854	£23,340	£7,650	—	£202,885
2023-24	157	£169,532	£14,300	£15,398	£11,940	—	£211,170
2024-25	168	£187,823	£19,715	£19,290	£10,065	—	£236,893
2025-26	57	£9,768	£17,260	£1,791	—	£280	£29,099

A year in which Caroline Nokes 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, 2012-13

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£77,235
Pooled Services	1	£3,960
Pooled Services: Direct	1	£3,960
Public Tr RAIL Int/Volntr - RT	2	£169
Public Tr RAIL Other Int/Volnt	1	£109
Public Tr Bus Int/Volntr	2	£46

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	1	£2,500
Stationery Purchase	25	£2,104
Other	11	£1,152
Other Equip Purchase	2	£843
Computer HW Purchase	1	£617
Legal Expenses Insurance	1	£604

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	12	£16,499
Electricity	4	£363
Television Licence	1	£49

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£7,620

Largest claims, 2012-13

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 2013	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2012-13 year	£77,235	£77,235
31 March 2013	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2012-13	£7,620	£7,620
22 March 2013	Staffing	Pooled Services	PRU	£3,960	£3,960
7 May 2012	Staffing	Pooled Services: Direct	PRU	£3,960	£3,960
18 April 2012	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	Romsey Office Annual Rent	£2,500	£2,500
31 January 2013	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,484	£1,484
29 December 2012	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,484	£1,484
29 November 2012	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,484	£1,484
29 October 2012	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,484	£1,484
26 September 2012	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,484	£1,484
27 August 2012	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,484	£1,484
27 July 2012	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,484	£1,484
29 June 2012	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,484	£1,484
29 May 2012	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,484	£1,484
30 April 2012	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,484	£1,484

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 Caroline Nokes 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 · Caroline Nokes’s register of interests and votes · Sources