MPs’ business costs
Gareth Thomas
IPSA paid £2,939,367 against 1,392 published rows for Gareth Thomas between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Harrow West 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, 2011-12
68 claims, £134,188 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 | £114,305 | 85.2% |
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 63 | £19,542 | 14.6% |
| 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. | 1 | £205 | 0.2% |
| Miscellaneous | Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19. | 3 | £136 | 0.1% |
Every year in the register
Gareth Thomas’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 | Travel | Miscellaneous | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-11 | 59 | £89,543 | £15,444 | £264 | — | £105,251 |
| 2011-12 | 68 | £114,305 | £19,542 | £205 | £136 | £134,188 |
| 2012-13 | 88 | £137,296 | £23,806 | £15 | — | £161,117 |
| 2013-14 | 125 | £143,573 | £22,643 | £1,705 | — | £167,922 |
| 2014-15 | 89 | £152,786 | £23,149 | £670 | — | £176,604 |
| 2015-16 | 81 | £143,080 | £21,273 | — | — | £164,353 |
| 2016-17 | 46 | £147,352 | £19,354 | £60 | — | £166,767 |
| 2017-18 | 47 | £159,058 | £18,810 | £157 | — | £178,024 |
| 2018-19 | 52 | £163,080 | £22,816 | £52 | — | £185,947 |
| 2019-20 | 132 | £161,651 | £18,266 | £1,241 | — | £181,158 |
| 2020-21 | 93 | £206,445 | £23,916 | £15 | — | £230,376 |
| 2021-22 | 90 | £218,409 | £22,929 | £78 | £1,912 | £243,328 |
| 2022-23 | 102 | £235,755 | £23,402 | £129 | — | £259,286 |
| 2023-24 | 140 | £252,533 | £26,860 | £56 | — | £279,449 |
| 2024-25 | 121 | £267,472 | £25,400 | £97 | — | £292,969 |
| 2025-26 | 59 | — | £12,629 | — | — | £12,629 |
A year in which Gareth Thomas 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, 2011-12
The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.
Staffing
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll | 1 | £114,305 |
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Const Office Rent | 12 | £9,975 |
| Stationery Purchase | 21 | £3,055 |
| Professional Services | 2 | £2,513 |
| Business Rates | 11 | £2,200 |
| Telephone/Mobile Hire | 12 | £1,020 |
| Computer SW Purchase | 1 | £335 |
Travel
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Aggregated Travel Costs | 1 | £205 |
Miscellaneous
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Contingency | 3 | £136 |
Largest claims, 2011-12
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 2012 | Staffing | Payroll | Total payroll costs for the 2011-12 year | £114,305 | £114,305 |
| 8 September 2011 | Office Costs | Professional Services | 20110908 OC 1 | £2,400 | £2,400 |
| 20 March 2012 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | — | £831 | £831 |
| 24 February 2012 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | — | £831 | £831 |
| 24 January 2012 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | — | £831 | £831 |
| 24 December 2011 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | — | £831 | £831 |
| 24 November 2011 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | — | £831 | £831 |
| 24 October 2011 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | — | £831 | £831 |
| 24 September 2011 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | — | £831 | £831 |
| 24 August 2011 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | — | £831 | £831 |
| 20 July 2011 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | — | £831 | £831 |
| 28 June 2011 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | — | £831 | £831 |
| 27 May 2011 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | — | £831 | £831 |
| 26 April 2011 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | — | £831 | £831 |
| 29 March 2012 | Office Costs | Stationery Purchase | 20120403 OC 1 | £470 | £470 |
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 Gareth Thomas 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 · Gareth Thomas’s register of interests and votes · Sources