MPs’ business costs

Dan Carden

IPSA paid £1,887,682 against 1,092 published rows for Dan Carden between 2017-18 and 2025-26 as the member for Liverpool, Walton BC, then Liverpool Walton 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, 2017-18

56 claims, £162,704 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.	3	£122,469	75.3%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	39	£24,165	14.9%
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.	13	£6,980	4.3%
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	£9,090	5.6%

Every year in the register

Dan Carden’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2017-18 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
2017-18	56	£122,469	£24,165	£6,980	£9,090	—	£162,704
2018-19	100	£153,578	£23,777	£13,699	£11,663	—	£202,717
2019-20	126	£144,660	£24,393	£12,281	£11,966	—	£193,300
2020-21	153	£172,023	£20,774	£14,753	£4,983	—	£212,533
2021-22	145	£201,805	£25,636	£15,482	£8,404	—	£251,327
2022-23	207	£221,058	£26,505	£14,445	£10,073	—	£272,081
2023-24	173	£225,619	£27,365	£9,940	£15,769	£112	£278,806
2024-25	93	£250,347	£19,510	£18,565	£10,204	—	£298,626
2025-26	39	—	£13,376	£2,214	—	—	£15,589

A year in which Dan Carden 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, 2017-18

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£110,869
Professional Services (Staff.)	1	£8,000
Pooled Services: Direct	1	£3,600

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	3	£5,182
Computer HW Purchase	4	£4,526
Furniture Purchase	1	£4,302
Other Equip Purchase	13	£3,108
Stationery Purchase	6	£1,903
Advertising	1	£1,433

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	6	£5,045
Water	2	£830
Council Tax	2	£725
Electricity	2	£304
Service Charges	1	£76

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£9,090

Largest claims, 2017-18

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 2018	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year	£110,869	£110,869
31 March 2018	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2017-18	£9,090	£9,090
1 January 2018	Staffing	Professional Services (Staff.)	Research Services	£8,000	£8,000
1 March 2018	Office Costs	Furniture Purchase	Constituency Office furniture	£4,302	£4,302
26 July 2017	Staffing	Pooled Services: Direct	PRS	£3,600	£3,600
30 October 2017	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£2,975	£2,975
26 March 2018	Office Costs	Computer HW Purchase	Payment Card Reconciliation	£1,908	£1,908
26 March 2018	Office Costs	Advertising	Aluminium Fascia Sign	£1,433	£1,433
31 March 2018	Office Costs	Computer HW Purchase	Payment Card Reconciliation	£1,270	£1,270
31 January 2018	Office Costs	Computer HW Purchase	Payment Card Reconciliation	£1,268	£1,268
5 March 2018	Office Costs	Other Equip Purchase	Payment Card Reconciliation	£1,189	£1,189
31 March 2018	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	[***]	£1,167	£1,167
16 February 2018	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,040	£1,040
19 February 2018	Office Costs	Professional Services	Payment Card Reconciliation	£960	£960
21 January 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£900	£900

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 Carden 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 Carden’s register of interests and votes · Sources