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, 2017-18

107 claims, £133,717 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	£95,074	71.1%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	72	£16,195	12.1%
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.	33	£12,742	9.5%
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	£9,707	7.3%

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, 2017-18

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£95,074

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	6	£6,421
Advertising	3	£2,472
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	22	£2,422
Stationery Purchase	14	£2,017
Computer SW Purchase	2	£850
Contents Insurance	1	£546

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Hotel London Area	33	£12,742

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£9,707

Largest claims, 2017-18

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 2018	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year	£95,074	£95,074
31 March 2018	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2017-18	£9,707	£9,707
20 March 2018	Office Costs	Stationery Purchase	Banner	£3,930	£3,930
21 December 2017	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,707	£1,707
27 September 2017	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,707	£1,707
27 June 2017	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,707	£1,707
19 October 2017	Office Costs	Advertising	paymentcard2107.10	£1,202	£1,202
1 April 2017	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£1,141	£1,141
12 March 2018	Office Costs	Advertising	paymentcard2018.03	£970	£970
28 November 2017	Office Costs	Computer SW Purchase	paymentcard2017.12	£750	£750
11 January 2018	Accommodation	Hotel London Area	hotel 7-10 jan 2018	£600	£600
12 October 2017	Accommodation	Hotel London Area	hotel 8-12 oct 2017	£600	£600
14 September 2017	Accommodation	Hotel London Area	hotel 10-13 sep 2017	£600	£600
26 March 2018	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	—	£566	£566
6 December 2017	Office Costs	Contents Insurance	paymentcard2017.12	£546	£546

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