Civometry

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, 2024-25

168 claims, £236,893 paid. The headings are IPSA’s own categories grouped; the categories inside each are named on the register page.

CategoryWhat it coversClaimsPaidShare
StaffingThe 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.11£187,82379.3%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.117£19,7158.3%
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.23£19,2908.1%
TravelJourneys 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.17£10,0654.2%

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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2010-1169£51,219£1,593£17,000£3,934—£73,747
2011-12104£80,080£9,746£12,712£6,055—£108,594
2012-13100£85,480£9,253£16,911£7,620—£119,263
2013-14151£70,808£10,172£12,891£7,916—£101,786
2014-1592£99,684£8,049£14,343£9,341—£131,417
2015-16100£140,478£17,407£17,695£8,263—£183,843
2016-17104£113,793£17,920£21,769£7,752—£161,235
2017-18104£115,941£11,780£20,624£10,048—£158,393
2018-19132£107,713£14,819£19,017£10,435—£151,984
2019-20199£142,772£13,554£14,690£10,258—£181,274
2020-21215£149,225£26,636£17,021£4,094—£196,976
2021-22166£146,747£11,879£23,666£6,632—£188,923
2022-23127£160,042£11,854£23,340£7,650—£202,885
2023-24157£169,532£14,300£15,398£11,940—£211,170
2024-25168£187,823£19,715£19,290£10,065—£236,893
2025-2657£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, 2024-25

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£177,360
Pooled staffing services2£5,263
Bought-in services8£5,200

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Advertising and contact cards12£7,095
Rent11£5,225
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage38£2,050
Stationery & printing19£1,985
Software & applications4£826
Mobile telephone - contract & usage11£790

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent7£11,802
Hotel - London14£6,754
Council tax2£734

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Mileage - car5£4,095
Rail3£2,060
Parking4£1,816
Hotel - London1£1,788
Congestion charge & toll1£200
Other public transport2£71

Largest claims, 2024-25

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
31 March 2025StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year£177,360£177,360
22 April 2024StaffingPooled staffing servicesPolicy Research Unit (Conservative)£3,548£3,548
11 September 2024Office CostsAdvertising and contact cardsRoyal Mail Door to Door for leaflet£2,789£2,789
1 April 2025AccommodationRent—£2,300£2,300
4 March 2025AccommodationRent—£2,300£2,300
28 January 2025AccommodationRent—£2,300£2,300
30 December 2024AccommodationRent—£2,300£2,300
28 November 2024AccommodationRent—£2,300£2,300
29 October 2024AccommodationRent[***] - rent for 28/10/2024 - 27/11/2024 - [***]£2,300£2,300
31 March 2025MP TravelMileage - carAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£2,198£2,198
25 September 2024Office CostsAdvertising and contact cardsPrinting cost for Dear Resident leaflet£2,077£2,077
31 March 2025MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£1,920£1,920
31 March 2025MP TravelHotel - LondonAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£1,788£1,788
16 August 2024StaffingPooled staffing servicesPolicy Research Unit (Conservative)£1,715£1,715
31 March 2025MP TravelParkingAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£1,558£1,558

Claims refused and money repaid, 2024-25

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £360 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 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