MPs’ business costs

Sir Keir Starmer

IPSA paid £1,929,450 against 807 published rows for Sir Keir Starmer between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Holborn and St Pancras 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.

Sir Keir Starmer is not a sitting member. Parliament records the membership as ending on 1 September 2026, reason given “Resignation (Chiltern)”. The claims below are the closed record IPSA publishes; a former member’s figures do not grow.

By category, 2015-16 to 2025-26

807 claims, £1,929,450 paid. The headings are IPSA’s own categories grouped; the categories inside each are named on the register page.

CategoryWhat it coversClaimsPaidShare
StaffingThe 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.77£1,698,67388.0%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.720£228,00811.8%
TravelJourneys 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.3£5760.0%
Starting up and winding upThe one-off costs of opening an office on election and of closing one on leaving. These fall in the years around a general election and are absent from the rest.3£2,0470.1%
MiscellaneousClaims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.4£1460.0%

Every year in the register

Sir Keir Starmer’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2015-16 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 costsTravelStarting up and winding upMiscellaneousTotal
2015-1682£113,829£9,682£72£123,584
2016-1747£139,178£15,728£1,975£156,881
2017-1884£155,592£21,893£44£177,529
2018-1986£162,456£21,135£431£184,022
2019-2091£143,848£19,371£163,218
2020-2174£143,824£22,680£166,504
2021-2268£186,760£24,908£211,668
2022-23146£220,220£28,442£248,662
2023-2463£234,249£24,131£258,381
2024-2549£198,717£33,336£145£102£232,301
2025-2617£6,701£6,701

A year in which Sir Keir Starmer 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, 2015-16 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll10£1,684,619
Pooled staffing services3£12,900
Staff Training Costs1£840
Volunteer - agreed arrangement costs48£177
Food & Drink Volunteer11£57
Public Tr UND Volunteer3£45

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent41£75,614
Advertising and contact cards65£24,151
Const Office Rent27£17,325
Stationery Purchase130£14,885
Business rates1£14,002
Professional Services: Direct3£10,800

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Aggregated Travel Costs1£431
Vehicle hire cost1£130
Congestion charge & toll1£15

Starting up and winding up

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Comp HW Purch StartUp1£1,830
Printer Purchase StartUp1£144
Office Consumables StartUp1£72

Miscellaneous

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Removals2£102
Removal Costs - Contingency2£44

Largest claims, 2015-16 to 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
31 March 2024StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year£229,716£229,716
31 March 2023StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year£215,876£215,876
31 March 2025StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year£198,717£198,717
31 March 2022StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year£182,560£182,560
31 March 2019StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year£162,407£162,407
31 March 2018StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year£155,592£155,592
31 March 2020StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year£143,848£143,848
31 March 2021StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year£143,790£143,790
31 March 2017StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year£139,178£139,178
31 March 2016StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2015-16 year£112,936£112,936
31 March 2025Office CostsRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£14,204£14,204
15 May 2025Office CostsBusiness ratesBusiness rates bill for FY2023-2024 and 2024-2025 [200011752-0]£14,002£14,002
22 February 2022Office CostsRent[***]£5,877£5,877
6 October 2023Office CostsRentL B CAMDEN IVR£5,000£5,000
27 July 2023Office CostsRentL B CAMDEN IVR£5,000£5,000

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 Keir Starmer 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 Keir Starmer’s register of interests and votes · Sources