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, 2015-16

108 claims, £144,355 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	£99,658	69.0%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	66	£17,671	12.2%
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.	40	£14,776	10.2%
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	£12,249	8.5%

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, 2015-16

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£99,658

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	4	£6,826
Advertising	5	£4,504
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	18	£2,389
Stationery Purchase	15	£1,889
Other Equip Purchase	6	£543
Contents Insurance	1	£498

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Hotel London Area	40	£14,776

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£12,249

Largest claims, 2015-16

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 2016	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year	£99,658	£99,658
31 March 2016	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2015-16	£12,249	£12,249
2 July 2015	Office Costs	Advertising	Advice Bureaux Advert Trinity	£1,754	£1,754
29 March 2016	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,707	£1,707
24 December 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,707	£1,707
24 September 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,707	£1,707
6 July 2015	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,707	£1,707
14 March 2016	Office Costs	Advertising	paymentcard 2016.03	£1,202	£1,202
10 March 2016	Accommodation	Hotel London Area	hotel 6-9 march 2015	£600	£600
3 March 2016	Accommodation	Hotel London Area	hotel 28Feb-2Mar 2016	£600	£600
26 February 2016	Accommodation	Hotel London Area	hotel 22-25 feb 2016	£600	£600
28 January 2016	Accommodation	Hotel London Area	hotel 24-27 jan 2016	£600	£600
7 January 2016	Accommodation	Hotel London Area	hotel 3-6 Jan 2016	£600	£600
5 November 2015	Accommodation	Hotel London Area	hotel 1-4 nov 2015	£600	£600
11 February 2016	Office Costs	Advertising	paymentcard 2016.02	£594	£594

Claims refused and money repaid, 2015-16

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £432 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 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