MPs’ business costs

Dan Aldridge

IPSA paid £208,856 against 181 published rows for Dan Aldridge between 2024-25 and 2025-26 as the member for Weston-super-Mare 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 to 2025-26

181 claims, £208,856 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.8£119,73357.3%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.133£44,48921.3%
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.24£30,95714.8%
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.16£13,6776.5%

Every year in the register

Dan Aldridge’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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelTotal
2024-25117£115,992£25,474£22,786£13,677£177,928
2025-2664£3,741£19,015£8,172£30,927

A year in which Dan Aldridge 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 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£113,952
Training - staff2£3,168
Bought-in services3£1,113
Recruitment Services &Costs1£900
Software & applications1£600

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Equipment - purchase20£8,466
Rent11£6,762
Advertising and contact cards17£6,337
Stationery & printing35£6,136
Website hosting and design3£4,980
Software & applications10£4,708

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent8£16,959
Council tax3£5,135
Hotel - London6£4,760
Utilities7£4,103

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail5£7,235
Hotel - London2£2,902
Mileage - car2£2,627
Hotel - UK Not London1£510
Congestion charge & toll1£245
Subsistence1£86

Largest claims, 2024-25 to 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
31 March 2025StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year£113,952£113,952
1 April 2025Office CostsWebsite hosting and designCAUSEWAYCREATIVE.CO.UK£4,800£4,800
31 March 2025Staff TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£4,799£4,799
25 April 2025Office CostsAdvertising and contact cardsPAYPAL ROYALMAILGR£4,026£4,026
31 March 2025Office CostsAdvertising and contact cardsPAYPAL ROYALMAILGR£3,724£3,724
10 March 2025Office CostsEquipment - purchaseOther office equipment£3,389£3,389
15 May 2025StaffingTraining - staffTSW/TRADING AS MENTOR [200013031-7]£2,628£2,628
31 March 2025MP TravelMileage - carAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£2,583£2,583
13 March 2025AccommodationRent£2,560£2,560
13 February 2025AccommodationRent£2,560£2,560
14 January 2025AccommodationRent£2,560£2,560
17 December 2024AccommodationRent£2,560£2,560
14 November 2024AccommodationRent£2,560£2,560
22 October 2024AccommodationRent£2,560£2,560
4 September 2024AccommodationRent[***] - First month´s rent -£2,560£2,560

Claims refused and money repaid, 2024-25 to 2025-26

3 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £817 not paid and £52 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 Dan Aldridge 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 · Dan Aldridge’s register of interests and votes · Sources