MPs’ business costs

Sir Geoffrey Cox

IPSA paid £2,821,148 against 3,042 published rows for Sir Geoffrey Cox between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Torridge and West Devon CC, then Torridge and Tavistock 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, 2010-11 to 2025-26

3,042 claims, £2,821,148 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.52£2,115,09875.0%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.2,583£310,50411.0%
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.313£206,8117.3%
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.76£184,4106.5%
MiscellaneousClaims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.18£4,3250.2%

Every year in the register

Sir Geoffrey Cox’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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2010-11276£89,601£14,338£8,400£10,769£316£123,423
2011-12363£106,999£27,312£9,754£12,591£932£157,588
2012-13316£116,480£20,338£8,294£12,730£937£158,779
2013-14303£124,156£20,142£8,850£11,417£164,565
2014-15224£128,449£17,388£8,571£15,332£169,739
2015-16226£134,902£21,016£8,280£12,925£642£177,764
2016-17174£132,412£17,856£8,606£12,405£171,279
2017-18159£104,298£18,371£14,346£11,721£148,736
2018-19170£132,859£18,886£22,680£13,212£187,637
2019-20224£147,580£22,779£22,680£16,225£209,263
2020-21114£164,726£16,940£22,800£4,659£209,124
2021-2292£165,468£18,147£15,200£9,457£208,273
2022-2393£200,677£18,604£5,875£11,789£236,945
2023-24102£155,111£23,126£17,750£17,816£213,803
2024-25109£209,629£19,586£24,421£11,364£265,000
2025-2697£1,750£15,675£306£1,499£19,230

A year in which Sir Geoffrey Cox 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, 2010-11 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll15£2,064,459
Pooled staffing services7£20,800
Pooled Services: Direct6£19,348
Professional Services (Staff.)11£4,041
Bought-in services6£2,990
Recruitment Services &Costs1£1,750

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Const Office Rent88£75,782
Rent18£43,127
Website - Design/Production35£23,654
Recruitment Services &Costs20£17,632
Stationery & printing153£13,683
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental91£13,287

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent61£108,726
Service Charges18£48,138
Accommodation Rent17£29,731
Council Tax72£6,948
Electricity18£5,036
Water61£3,829

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Aggregated Travel Costs9£113,101
Rail14£30,000
Mileage - car25£20,028
Hotel - London6£16,459
Parking14£2,908
Subsistence4£1,079

Miscellaneous

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Contingency15£2,184
Removals1£1,499
Removal Costs - Contingency2£642

Largest claims, 2010-11 to 2025-26

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£204,366£204,366
31 March 2023StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year£197,245£197,245
31 March 2021StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year£161,679£161,679
31 March 2022StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year£159,130£159,130
31 March 2024StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year£151,923£151,923
31 March 2020StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year£143,464£143,464
31 March 2016StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2015-16 year£131,845£131,845
31 March 2019StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year£129,759£129,759
31 March 2017StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year£129,741£129,741
31 March 2015StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2014-15 year£128,414£128,414
31 March 2014StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2013-14 year£117,576£117,576
31 March 2013StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2012-13 year£112,186£112,186
31 March 2012StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2011-12 year£106,565£106,565
31 March 2018StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year£101,618£101,618
31 March 2011StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2010-11 year£88,949£88,949

Claims refused and money repaid, 2010-11 to 2025-26

15 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £15 not paid and £357 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 Sir Geoffrey Cox 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 Geoffrey Cox’s register of interests and votes · Sources