Civometry

MPs’ business costs

Dave Doogan

IPSA paid £1,394,720 against 1,375 published rows for Dave Doogan between 2019-20 and 2025-26 as the member for Angus CC, then Angus and Perthshire Glens 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

289 claims, £322,933 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.5£235,60373.0%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.218£21,8606.8%
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.35£20,1886.3%
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.30£44,74413.9%
MiscellaneousClaims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.1£5380.2%

Every year in the register

Dave Doogan’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2019-20 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 costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2019-2031£13,921£2,728£1,575£11,352—£29,576
2020-21103£121,969£28,592£17,610£7,807—£175,978
2021-22223£167,421£23,762£24,096£30,920—£246,199
2022-23330£187,730£30,083£23,751£54,031—£295,595
2023-24291£192,915£24,895£21,943£47,801—£287,554
2024-25289£235,603£21,860£20,188£44,744£538£322,933
2025-26108—£35,668£1,217——£36,885

A year in which Dave Doogan 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£217,951
Pooled staffing services1£8,900
Pooled Staffing Services1£8,000
Training - staff1£570
Working From Home Allowance1£182

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Advertising and contact cards24£6,338
Utilities9£2,534
Venue hire, meetings & surgeries61£2,270
Rent1£1,693
Stationery & printing26£1,641
Software & applications27£1,548

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent9£14,859
Hotel - London13£4,367
Utilities11£727
Council tax2£235

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Air travel4£19,184
Hotel - London2£8,656
Rail7£7,414
Mileage - car6£5,172
Parking4£2,520
Subsistence1£963

Miscellaneous

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Removals1£538

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£217,951£217,951
31 March 2025MP TravelAir travelAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£16,986£16,986
2 May 2024StaffingPooled staffing servicesScottish National Party Research Team (SNP)£8,900£8,900
31 March 2025StaffingPooled Staffing ServicesScottish National Party Research Team (SNP)£8,000£8,000
31 March 2025Staff TravelHotel - LondonAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£7,667£7,667
31 March 2025Staff TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£6,697£6,697
18 March 2025AccommodationRent—£2,300£2,300
18 February 2025AccommodationRent—£2,300£2,300
21 January 2025AccommodationRent—£2,300£2,300
19 December 2024AccommodationRent—£2,300£2,300
19 November 2024AccommodationRent—£2,300£2,300
22 October 2024AccommodationRent—£2,300£2,300
31 March 2025MP TravelParkingAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£2,261£2,261
31 March 2025Staff TravelMileage - carAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£1,852£1,852
19 September 2024AccommodationRent—£1,769£1,769

Claims refused and money repaid, 2024-25

5 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £971 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 Dave Doogan 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 · Dave Doogan’s register of interests and votes · Sources