MPs’ business costs
Chris Ward
IPSA paid £224,703 against 216 published rows for Chris Ward between 2024-25 and 2025-26 as the member for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven 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
88 claims, £21,610 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. | 2 | £1,800 | 8.3% |
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 61 | £15,811 | 73.2% |
| 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. | 24 | £3,395 | 15.7% |
| Miscellaneous | Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19. | 1 | £605 | 2.8% |
Every year in the register
Chris Ward’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2024-25 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 128 | £158,826 | £29,210 | £11,572 | £3,485 | — | £203,093 |
| 2025-26 | 88 | £1,800 | £15,811 | £3,395 | — | £605 | £21,610 |
A year in which Chris Ward 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.
Staffing
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Recruitment Services &Costs | 2 | £1,800 |
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Utilities | 18 | £3,811 |
| Landline phone & internet - rental & usage | 22 | £2,843 |
| Stationery & printing | 5 | £1,813 |
| Recruitment Services &Costs | 1 | £1,800 |
| Software & applications | 1 | £1,476 |
| Cleaning services | 5 | £1,400 |
Accommodation
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Council tax | 11 | £2,359 |
| Utilities | 6 | £658 |
| Landline phone & internet - rental & usage | 7 | £378 |
Miscellaneous
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Removals | 1 | £605 |
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.
| Date | Category | Cost type | Description | Claimed | Paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 April 2025 | Office Costs | Recruitment Services &Costs | Hive - Temp recruitment services - paid 08.04.25 | £1,800 | £1,800 |
| 15 August 2025 | Office Costs | Software & applications | CASEWORKER SOFTWARE YEARLY BILL | £1,476 | £1,476 |
| 5 March 2026 | Staffing | Recruitment Services &Costs | Temporary recruitment services. | £900 | £900 |
| 17 November 2025 | Staffing | Recruitment Services &Costs | Hive invoice for recruiting Temp Caseworker | £900 | £900 |
| 30 January 2026 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | Constituency letterheads. | £701 | £701 |
| 1 May 2025 | Office Costs | Equipment - purchase | Other office equipment | £652 | £652 |
| 8 January 2026 | Miscellaneous | Removals | Removal service to move large furniture items to new constituency home address [***] [***] | £605 | £605 |
| 28 July 2025 | Office Costs | Advertising and contact cards | Chris Ward MP Letterheads | £584 | £584 |
| 24 April 2025 | Office Costs | Stationery & printing | Chris Ward MP Letterheads x 4,000 | £490 | £490 |
| 2 February 2026 | Office Costs | Utilities | Electricity | £473 | £473 |
| 31 August 2025 | Office Costs | Cleaning services | Deep clean with jet washing of bird waste in back yard | £408 | £408 |
| 26 August 2025 | Office Costs | Cleaning services | Deep clean with anti-bird wire installed to back yard | £400 | £400 |
| 7 April 2025 | Office Costs | Waste disposal, confidential waste & rubbish collection | Waste removal from constituency office - paid by [***] [***] on 07.04.25 | £378 | £378 |
| 26 February 2026 | Office Costs | Postage & couriers | Delivery of MPs monthly newsletter to residents. | £360 | £360 |
| 1 June 2025 | Office Costs | Landline phone & internet - rental & usage | Landline & internet package | £336 | £336 |
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 Chris Ward 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 · Chris Ward’s register of interests and votes · Sources