MPs’ business costs

Dan Tomlinson

IPSA paid £245,253 against 192 published rows for Dan Tomlinson between 2024-25 and 2025-26 as the member for Chipping Barnet 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, 2024-25

131 claims, £225,444 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.6£194,57286.3%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.124£30,83213.7%
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.1£410.0%

Every year in the register

Dan Tomlinson’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 costsTravelTotal
2024-25131£194,572£30,832£41£225,444
2025-2661£290£19,519£19,809

A year in which Dan Tomlinson 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

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£192,945
Training - staff5£1,627

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent9£8,693
Equipment - purchase13£6,065
Stationery & printing27£4,488
Postage & couriers3£3,883
Pooled staffing services1£3,000
Software & applications18£2,077

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Mileage - car1£41

Largest claims, 2024-25

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£192,945£192,945
4 March 2025Office CostsEquipment - purchaseOther office equipment£3,915£3,915
3 October 2024Office CostsPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£3,000£3,000
4 February 2025Office CostsRent£1,800£1,800
20 March 2025Office CostsPostage & couriersVIKING [200011725-7415]£1,713£1,713
20 March 2025Office CostsPostage & couriersROYAL MAIL ONLINE SHOP [200011725-7414]£1,675£1,675
6 January 2025Office CostsRent£1,140£1,140
3 December 2024Office CostsRent£1,140£1,140
5 November 2024Office CostsRent£1,140£1,140
1 October 2024Office CostsRent£1,140£1,140
3 September 2024Office CostsRent£1,140£1,140
6 August 2024Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES [200011792-331]£990£990
26 February 2025Office CostsEquipment - purchasePrinter, photocopier & scanner£911£911
28 January 2025Office CostsRent[***]£660£660
6 March 2025Office CostsRent£600£600

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 Tomlinson 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 Tomlinson’s register of interests and votes · Sources