MPs’ business costs

Graham Stringer

IPSA paid £2,101,251 against 1,699 published rows for Graham Stringer between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Blackley and Broughton BC, then Blackley and Middleton South 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, 2010-11

79 claims, £109,791 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	£77,764	70.8%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	43	£15,553	14.2%
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.	34	£10,747	9.8%
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	£5,727	5.2%

Every year in the register

Graham Stringer’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	Total
2010-11	79	£77,764	£15,553	£10,747	£5,727	£109,791
2011-12	83	£108,387	£13,196	£13,680	£10,211	£145,474
2012-13	110	£115,750	£18,131	£12,380	£11,201	£157,461
2013-14	143	£114,550	£15,984	£13,880	£12,504	£156,918
2014-15	115	£103,591	£17,215	£13,650	£15,495	£149,951
2015-16	108	£99,658	£17,671	£14,776	£12,249	£144,355
2016-17	104	£88,162	£16,925	£16,050	£14,783	£135,920
2017-18	107	£95,074	£16,195	£12,742	£9,707	£133,717
2018-19	100	£95,108	£20,142	£15,129	£13,397	£143,777
2019-20	118	£66,343	£17,362	£13,733	£12,797	£110,235
2020-21	93	£83,506	£14,917	£8,004	£10,524	£116,952
2021-22	143	£84,145	£17,761	£16,092	£14,577	£132,575
2022-23	102	£89,821	£17,612	£13,315	£12,087	£132,836
2023-24	122	£98,028	£16,237	£16,675	£15,813	£146,753
2024-25	113	£113,306	£13,152	£18,931	£15,178	£160,567
2025-26	59	—	£3,890	£20,080	—	£23,969

A year in which Graham Stringer 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

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£77,764

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Advertising	4	£3,731
Const Office Hire of Premises	4	£3,417
Const Office Rent	2	£2,677
Stationery Purchase	8	£1,835
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	6	£921
Computer SW Purchase	2	£768

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Interim Hotel London Area	33	£10,358
Hotel London Area	1	£389

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£5,727

Largest claims, 2010-11

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 2011	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2010-11 year	£77,764	£77,764
31 March 2011	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2010-11	£5,727	£5,727
21 January 2011	Office Costs	Const Office Hire of Premises	Office hire Oct 2010-Mar 2011	£1,707	£1,707
21 January 2011	Office Costs	Const Office Hire of Premises	Office hire Oct 2010-Mar 2011	£1,671	£1,671
12 July 2010	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	office NMSFC July-Sept 2010	£1,671	£1,671
13 January 2011	Office Costs	Advertising	Advice Bureau Adverts MEN	£1,566	£1,566
4 October 2010	Office Costs	Advertising	Advice Bureau Advert MEN	£1,453	£1,453
7 May 2010	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	office NMSFC 7/05/10-30/06/10	£1,006	£1,006
6 December 2010	Office Costs	Stationery Purchase	various toners	£588	£588
1 December 2010	Office Costs	Contents Insurance	office insurance	£486	£486
7 May 2010	Office Costs	Computer SW Purchase	CAB advisernet 07/07/10-31/04/	£418	£418
1 August 2010	Office Costs	Printer Purchase	dell 2335dn printer	£408	£408
16 August 2010	Office Costs	Computer HW Purchase	Win7 laptop	£399	£399
10 February 2011	Accommodation	Interim Hotel London Area	hotel stay 7-9 Feb 2011	£390	£390
20 January 2011	Accommodation	Interim Hotel London Area	hotel stay 17-19 Jan 2011	£390	£390

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 Graham Stringer 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 · Graham Stringer’s register of interests and votes · Sources