Civometry

MPs’ business costs

Jim Dickson

IPSA paid £175,960 against 155 published rows for Jim Dickson between 2024-25 and 2025-26 as the member for Dartford 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, 2025-26

31 claims, £3,875 paid. The headings are IPSA’s own categories grouped; the categories inside each are named on the register page.

CategoryWhat it coversClaimsPaidShare
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.31£3,875100.0%

Every year in the register

Jim Dickson’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2024-25 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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsTravelTotal
2024-25124£139,452£32,374£259£172,085
2025-2631—£3,875—£3,875

A year in which Jim Dickson 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, 2025-26

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

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Software & applications11£2,434
Advertising and contact cards8£1,005
Venue hire, meetings & surgeries4£310
Stationery & printing6£158
Equipment - purchase1£50
Hospitality1£-82

Largest claims, 2025-26

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.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
27 October 2025Office CostsSoftware & applicationsCaseworker software£1,476£1,476
26 August 2025Office CostsAdvertising and contact cardsPAYPAL DARTFORDLIV£515£515
17 September 2024Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES [200011892-0]£485£485
25 July 2025Office CostsVenue hire, meetings & surgeries—£144£144
1 April 2025Office CostsStationery & printingAMAZON [***]£103£103
4 April 2025Office CostsStationery & printingAMAZON [***]£93£93
11 February 2026Office CostsAdvertising and contact cardsSurgery and contact details in local news£70£70
11 January 2026Office CostsAdvertising and contact cardsSurgery and contact details in local news£70£70
12 December 2025Office CostsAdvertising and contact cardsSurgery and contact details in local news£70£70
12 November 2025Office CostsAdvertising and contact cardsNovember Surgery Notice£70£70
12 October 2025Office CostsAdvertising and contact cardsOctober Surgery Notice£70£70
12 September 2025Office CostsAdvertising and contact cardsAdvertising surgery dates£70£70
12 August 2025Office CostsAdvertising and contact cardsAdvertising surgery dates£70£70
23 January 2026Office CostsVenue hire, meetings & surgeries—£63£63
4 April 2025Office CostsStationery & printingAMAZON [***]£63£63

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 Jim Dickson 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 · Jim Dickson’s register of interests and votes · Sources