MPs’ business costs

Sir Iain Duncan Smith

IPSA paid £2,621,125 against 991 published rows for Sir Iain Duncan Smith between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Chingford and Woodford Green 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, 2013-14

64 claims, £118,874 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.	2	£102,945	86.6%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	61	£14,935	12.6%
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	£995	0.8%

Every year in the register

Sir Iain Duncan Smith’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	64	£87,327	£20,259	£531	—	£108,117
2011-12	63	£106,830	£20,112	£629	—	£127,571
2012-13	66	£112,494	£17,524	£718	—	£130,736
2013-14	64	£102,945	£14,935	£995	—	£118,874
2014-15	26	£115,714	£13,609	£933	—	£130,256
2015-16	42	£128,587	£15,172	£1,398	—	£145,157
2016-17	47	£128,189	£14,014	£925	—	£143,128
2017-18	41	£131,828	£18,785	£2,609	—	£153,222
2018-19	50	£150,699	£22,469	£3,423	—	£176,592
2019-20	76	£158,666	£23,743	£2,463	—	£184,873
2020-21	66	£175,011	£30,699	£909	—	£206,619
2021-22	54	£197,447	£13,234	£1,035	—	£211,717
2022-23	105	£208,684	£24,180	£4,213	£1,440	£238,516
2023-24	72	£238,162	£24,807	£2,104	—	£265,073
2024-25	98	£236,375	£24,907	£4,173	—	£265,454
2025-26	57	—	£15,221	—	—	£15,221

A year in which Sir Iain Duncan Smith 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, 2013-14

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£96,945
Professional Services (Staff.)	1	£6,000

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	1	£7,280
Website - Design/Production	1	£2,664
Stationery Purchase	25	£2,105
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	19	£1,595
Legal Expenses Insurance	1	£578
Install/Maint Office Equip.	2	£291

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£995

Largest claims, 2013-14

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 2014	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2013-14 year	£96,945	£96,945
6 March 2014	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	Chingford and Woodford Office	£7,280	£7,280
6 March 2014	Staffing	Professional Services (Staff.)	[***] in my constituency	£6,000	£6,000
1 April 2013	Office Costs	Website - Design/Production	Butter Mountain Annual cost	£2,664	£2,664
31 March 2014	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2013-14	£995	£995
9 August 2013	Office Costs	Legal Expenses Insurance	EPL	£578	£578
26 March 2014	Office Costs	Stationery Purchase	metloc printers	£510	£510
10 October 2013	Office Costs	Stationery Purchase	Laser Cartridges EACH	£256	£256
12 July 2013	Office Costs	Stationery Purchase	AB Cartridges Ltd	£218	£218
10 March 2014	Office Costs	Newspapers/Journals	Guardian - Local	£198	£198
9 December 2013	Office Costs	Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	BT Radio Line	£171	£171
31 May 2013	Office Costs	Install/Maint Office Equip.	Homeline Technology	£165	£165
26 June 2013	Office Costs	Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	BT Radio line	£158	£158
7 February 2014	Office Costs	Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	Vodafone Jan 14	£127	£127
9 December 2013	Office Costs	Install/Maint Office Equip.	Homeline technology	£126	£126

Claims refused and money repaid, 2013-14

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £72 not paid and £0 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 Iain Duncan Smith 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 Iain Duncan Smith’s register of interests and votes · Sources