MPs’ business costs

Daniel Zeichner

IPSA paid £2,015,241 against 1,111 published rows for Daniel Zeichner between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Cambridge 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

137 claims, £212,690 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.	1	£182,413	85.8%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	117	£26,451	12.4%
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.	19	£3,827	1.8%

Every year in the register

Daniel Zeichner’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2015-16 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	Starting up and winding up	Total
2015-16	140	£115,279	£11,669	—	£4,206	£4,235	£135,388
2016-17	96	£139,867	£21,194	—	£4,703	—	£165,765
2017-18	78	£149,662	£20,815	—	£5,324	—	£175,800
2018-19	67	£151,422	£19,889	—	£4,006	—	£175,317
2019-20	92	£157,200	£20,809	—	£3,388	—	£181,397
2020-21	148	£186,158	£23,936	—	£1,133	—	£211,226
2021-22	137	£182,413	£26,451	—	£3,827	—	£212,690
2022-23	131	£208,046	£21,006	—	£5,152	—	£234,204
2023-24	109	£220,438	£22,673	—	£6,200	—	£249,310
2024-25	83	£241,001	£20,927	—	£4,475	—	£266,404
2025-26	30	—	£4,819	£2,921	—	—	£7,739

A year in which Daniel Zeichner 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	£182,413

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	1	£9,000
Pooled staffing services	1	£4,200
Equipment - purchase	24	£3,676
Working From Home Allowance	1	£3,246
Software & applications	42	£2,148
Stationery & printing	19	£1,324

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	5	£1,348
Mileage - car	5	£1,247
Other public transport	3	£628
Hotel - UK Not London	1	£298
Railcard	1	£136
Parking	2	£106

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	£182,413	£182,413
31 March 2022	Office Costs	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£9,000	£9,000
27 April 2021	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£4,200	£4,200
31 March 2022	Office Costs	Working From Home Allowance	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£3,246	£3,246
31 March 2022	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£776	£776
15 September 2021	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Computer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories	£653	£653
15 September 2021	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Computer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories	£653	£653
31 March 2022	MP Travel	Other public transport	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£600	£600
30 May 2021	Office Costs	Software & applications	ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES	£600	£600
25 November 2021	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Computer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories	£593	£593
19 December 2021	Office Costs	Software & applications	HOO HOOTSUITE INC	£562	£562
31 March 2022	Staff Travel	Mileage - car	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£472	£472
31 March 2022	MP Travel	Mileage - car	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£464	£464
30 April 2021	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Computer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories	£350	£350
21 February 2021	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Computer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories	£350	£350

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 Daniel Zeichner 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 · Daniel Zeichner’s register of interests and votes · Sources