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, 2021-22

145 claims, £251,327 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	£201,805	80.3%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	103	£25,636	10.2%
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.	22	£15,482	6.2%
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.	18	£8,404	3.3%

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, 2021-22

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£197,605
Pooled staffing services	1	£4,200

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	1	£14,000
Website hosting and design	2	£2,603
Working From Home Allowance	1	£2,288
Utilities	23	£1,725
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	11	£1,208
Mobile telephone - contract & usage	19	£916

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	1	£11,116
Utilities	7	£1,959
Council tax	3	£1,893
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	11	£515

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	6	£6,873
Hotel - London	1	£338
Hotel - UK Not London	1	£298
Hotel - European	1	£260
Vehicle hire cost	1	£227
Railcard	1	£174

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.

Date	Category	Cost type	Description	Claimed	Paid
31 March 2022	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£197,605	£197,605
31 March 2022	Office Costs	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£14,000	£14,000
31 March 2022	Accommodation	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£11,116	£11,116
31 March 2022	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£4,553	£4,553
2 September 2021	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£4,200	£4,200
26 January 2022	Office Costs	Website hosting and design	www.dancarden.co.uk	£2,400	£2,400
31 March 2022	Office Costs	Working From Home Allowance	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£2,288	£2,288
31 March 2022	Staff Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£1,638	£1,638
7 July 2021	Accommodation	Council tax	LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL	£1,512	£1,512
16 November 2021	Office Costs	Software & applications	ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES	£600	£600
7 July 2021	Accommodation	Utilities	Water	£525	£525
22 February 2022	Accommodation	Utilities	Dual Fuel	£388	£388
31 March 2022	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£369	£369
7 May 2021	Accommodation	Utilities	Dual Fuel	£354	£354
31 March 2022	Staff Travel	Hotel - London	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£338	£338

Claims refused and money repaid, 2021-22

2 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £57 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 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