Civometry

MPs’ business costs

Sir Christopher Chope

IPSA paid £2,189,430 against 1,597 published rows for Sir Christopher Chope between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Christchurch 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

110 claims, £154,197 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.12£130,37884.6%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.89£18,50212.0%
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.5£2,6531.7%
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.4£2,6641.7%

Every year in the register

Sir Christopher Chope’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
2010-1158£64,111£9,095£5,046£5,987—£84,239
2011-1285£74,664£16,936£3,857£7,244—£102,701
2012-13103£77,514£16,316£2,522£6,641—£102,993
2013-14127£77,331£16,732£6,316£6,897—£107,276
2014-15100£83,169£15,364£4,589£8,629—£111,750
2015-1680£90,600£11,849£4,680£7,015—£114,144
2016-17103£93,210£22,326£8,165£7,778£216£131,695
2017-18104£93,883£19,942£5,963£5,421—£125,208
2018-19109£100,196£18,219£5,107£8,150—£131,672
2019-20134£106,456£21,842£5,281£4,949—£138,528
2020-21106£108,218£23,727£3,431£4,031—£139,406
2021-22110£130,378£18,502£2,653£2,664—£154,197
2022-2382£200,825£18,309£4,263£4,418—£227,814
2023-24128£209,192£32,040£6,717£5,526—£253,475
2024-2595£219,334£21,152£3,198£5,556—£249,241
2025-2673—£9,552£5,539——£15,091

A year in which Sir Christopher Chope 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 typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£124,878
Bought-in services11£5,500

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent3£6,750
Stationery & printing14£3,213
Utilities21£3,058
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage11£1,648
Newspapers, journals, magazines18£1,466
Working From Home Allowance1£757

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Utilities4£2,053
Council tax1£600

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Mileage - car2£1,440
Congestion charge & toll1£1,168
Rail1£56

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.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
31 March 2022StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year£124,878£124,878
21 December 2021Office CostsRentquarterly rent on 37 Bargates lease£2,250£2,250
21 September 2021Office CostsRentquarterly rent for 37 Bargates£2,250£2,250
21 June 2021Office CostsRentquarterly rent for 37 Bargates£2,250£2,250
31 March 2022MP TravelMileage - carAggregated figure for travel during 2021-22£1,260£1,260
31 March 2022MP TravelCongestion charge & tollAggregated figure for travel during 2021-22£1,168£1,168
22 February 2022AccommodationUtilitiesOther fuel£798£798
31 March 2022Office CostsWorking From Home AllowanceAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22£757£757
9 December 2021AccommodationUtilitiesOther fuel£740£740
2 February 2022Office CostsStationery & printingBanner February 2022£712£712
6 August 2021Office CostsStationery & printingBanner August 2021£712£712
28 July 2021AccommodationCouncil taxbalance of council tax payment for 2021/22 at [***] [***]£600£600
28 February 2022StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£500£500
31 January 2022StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£500£500
30 December 2021StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£500£500

Claims refused and money repaid, 2021-22

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £87 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 Sir Christopher Chope 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 · Sir Christopher Chope’s register of interests and votes · Sources