MPs’ business costs

Sir Desmond Swayne

IPSA paid £1,423,936 against 1,191 published rows for Sir Desmond Swayne between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for New Forest West 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, 2020-21

73 claims, £116,757 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	£101,792	87.2%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	43	£8,650	7.4%
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.	25	£4,718	4.0%
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.	2	£1,596	1.4%

Every year in the register

Sir Desmond Swayne’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2010-11 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
2010-11	89	£60,080	£2,607	£3,134	£2,224	—	£68,045
2011-12	101	£79,404	£2,441	£2,714	£2,202	£134	£86,894
2012-13	101	£80,717	£2,425	£3,095	£2,267	—	£88,505
2013-14	104	£79,811	£2,780	£3,766	£1,885	—	£88,242
2014-15	99	£75,303	£2,329	£3,831	£2,765	—	£84,228
2015-16	79	£72,884	£5,287	£2,788	£543	—	£81,502
2016-17	86	£74,352	£3,003	£3,468	£1,435	—	£82,258
2017-18	74	£85,455	£2,715	£2,614	£948	—	£91,733
2018-19	77	£79,911	£2,770	£3,472	£1,114	—	£87,267
2019-20	63	£73,451	£3,431	£2,923	£1,501	—	£81,307
2020-21	73	£101,792	£8,650	£4,718	£1,596	—	£116,757
2021-22	69	£93,231	£6,055	£3,200	£1,349	—	£103,834
2022-23	58	£99,552	£5,125	£4,739	£1,607	—	£111,023
2023-24	54	£104,620	£4,942	£3,935	£1,691	—	£115,188
2024-25	42	£115,190	£9,181	£3,658	£1,796	—	£129,825
2025-26	22	—	£2,623	£4,705	—	—	£7,328

A year in which Sir Desmond Swayne 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, 2020-21

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£101,067
Training - staff	2	£725

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Pooled staffing services	2	£5,047
Software & applications	1	£600
Mobile telephone - contract & usage	13	£574
Working From Home Allowance	1	£571
Training - staff	1	£439
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs	1	£406

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Hotel - London	25	£4,718

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	2	£1,596

Largest claims, 2020-21

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 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£101,067	£101,067
27 May 2020	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	Policy Research Unit (Conservative)	£3,047	£3,047
19 June 2020	Office Costs	Pooled staffing services	European Research Group (Conservative)	£2,000	£2,000
31 March 2021	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2020-21	£1,522	£1,522
13 January 2021	Office Costs	Software & applications	Caseworker annual fee & support: Elected Technologies	£600	£600
2 June 2020	Staffing	Training - staff	Mindcare. Mental Health Training x2 staff	£600	£600
31 March 2021	Office Costs	Working From Home Allowance	Aggregated figure for 2020-21	£571	£571
30 September 2020	Accommodation	Hotel - London	Parliament sitting: [*] [] [**] Bed & Breakfast	£490	£490
27 April 2020	Office Costs	Training - staff	Introduction to Casework: Parli-Training	£439	£439
22 October 2020	Office Costs	Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs	Ethernet cabling; electric socket provision, new lights, resiting security lights, in and for office	£406	£406
1 July 2020	Accommodation	Hotel - London	[***]: parliament sitting	£372	£372
1 July 2020	Accommodation	Hotel - London	[***]: parliament sitting	£372	£372
1 July 2020	Accommodation	Hotel - London	[***]: parliament sitting	£372	£372
4 November 2020	Accommodation	Hotel - London	[***]: Parliament sitting	£328	£328
22 October 2020	Accommodation	Hotel - London	Parliamentary Sittings: [*] [] [**]	£315	£315

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 Sir Desmond Swayne 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 · Sir Desmond Swayne’s register of interests and votes · Sources