MPs’ business costs

John Finucane

IPSA paid £1,231,059 against 763 published rows for John Finucane between 2019-20 and 2025-26 as the member for Belfast North 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, 2025-26

89 claims, £21,731 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
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	63	£8,947	41.2%
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.	25	£12,304	56.6%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	1	£480	2.2%

Every year in the register

John Finucane’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2019-20 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
2019-20	6	£18,369	£568	—	£1,467	—	£20,404
2020-21	167	£171,812	£29,630	£700	£191	—	£202,333
2021-22	93	£201,685	£19,426	£2,387	£6,078	—	£229,576
2022-23	121	£206,890	£16,524	£3,720	£6,777	—	£233,912
2023-24	131	£204,081	£20,242	£6,806	£15,482	—	£246,611
2024-25	156	£231,945	£20,260	£7,612	£16,675	—	£276,492
2025-26	89	—	£8,947	£12,304	—	£480	£21,731

A year in which John Finucane 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 type	Claims	Paid
Stationery & printing	24	£2,650
Business rates	1	£1,762
Utilities	7	£1,312
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	7	£909
Mobile telephone - contract & usage	11	£861
Equipment - hire	3	£556

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Hotel - London	25	£12,304

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	1	£480

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.

Date	Category	Cost type	Description	Claimed	Paid
30 April 2025	Office Costs	Business rates	Annual Rates 25/26	£1,762	£1,762
27 February 2026	Accommodation	Hotel - London	[*][][**]	£1,607	£1,607
28 October 2025	Accommodation	Hotel - London	[*][][**]	£695	£695
23 February 2026	Accommodation	Hotel - London	[*][][**]	£689	£689
28 October 2025	Accommodation	Hotel - London	[*][][**]	£680	£680
11 December 2025	Accommodation	Hotel - London	[*][][**]	£660	£660
29 September 2025	Accommodation	Hotel - London	Parliamentary business	£660	£660
4 December 2025	Accommodation	Hotel - London	[*][][**]	£597	£597
9 June 2025	Accommodation	Hotel - London	[*][][**]	£597	£597
25 April 2025	Miscellaneous	Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	Landline & internet package	£480	£480
3 January 2026	Accommodation	Hotel - London	[*][][**]	£464	£464
2 July 2025	Accommodation	Hotel - London	London Hotel 30 Jun 01 July 25 £492.28	£460	£460
13 November 2025	Accommodation	Hotel - London	[*][][**]	£440	£440
7 November 2025	Accommodation	Hotel - London	[*][][**]	£440	£440
7 October 2025	Accommodation	Hotel - London	[***] 4 5 Oct 25 £440	£440	£440

Claims refused and money repaid, 2025-26

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £85 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 John Finucane 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 · John Finucane’s register of interests and votes · Sources