MPs’ business costs

Jamie Stone

IPSA paid £1,975,266 against 1,735 published rows for Jamie Stone between 2017-18 and 2025-26 as the member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross 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, 2017-18

123 claims, £125,335 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	£77,774	62.1%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	106	£23,924	19.1%
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.	14	£10,377	8.3%
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	£13,260	10.6%

Every year in the register

Jamie Stone’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2017-18 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	Miscellaneous	Total
2017-18	123	£77,774	£23,924	£10,377	£13,260	—	£125,335
2018-19	177	£132,520	£19,308	£21,116	£28,299	—	£201,243
2019-20	191	£125,217	£22,210	£20,885	£30,422	—	£198,734
2020-21	130	£138,992	£22,709	£21,086	£15,849	—	£198,636
2021-22	230	£184,705	£22,827	£24,135	£36,230	—	£267,896
2022-23	259	£176,307	£27,977	£23,560	£41,204	—	£269,048
2023-24	308	£235,871	£29,282	£24,707	£45,014	£18,567	£353,441
2024-25	239	£250,820	£28,099	£26,645	£40,418	—	£345,982
2025-26	78	—	£12,673	£2,276	—	—	£14,949

A year in which Jamie Stone 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	£72,674
Pooled Services: Direct	1	£5,100

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	10	£5,712
Furniture Purchase	8	£5,063
Advertising	29	£3,376
Const Office Electricity	7	£3,182
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	16	£2,339
Stationery Purchase	8	£1,438

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	6	£8,248
Service Charges	2	£748
Water	1	£587
Council Tax	4	£494
Hotel London Area	1	£300

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£13,260

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	£72,674	£72,674
31 March 2018	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2017-18	£13,260	£13,260
28 July 2017	Staffing	Pooled Services: Direct	PST	£5,100	£5,100
21 January 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,603	£1,603
21 December 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,603	£1,603
4 December 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,603	£1,603
3 November 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,603	£1,603
17 August 2017	Office Costs	Furniture Purchase	Payment Card August17	£1,324	£1,324
17 August 2017	Office Costs	Furniture Purchase	Payment Card August17	£1,297	£1,297
30 October 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,233	£1,233
8 February 2018	Office Costs	Const Office Electricity	Payment Card February18	£1,152	£1,152
24 January 2018	Office Costs	Const Office Electricity	Payment Card January18	£917	£917
4 September 2017	Office Costs	Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	Payment Card September17	£888	£888
11 January 2018	Office Costs	Furniture Purchase	Payment Card January18	£859	£859
28 March 2018	Office Costs	Const Office Electricity	Payment Card March2018	£805	£805

Claims refused and money repaid, 2017-18

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £140 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 Jamie Stone 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 · Jamie Stone’s register of interests and votes · Sources