MPs’ business costs

Lee Barron

IPSA paid £236,792 against 221 published rows for Lee Barron between 2024-25 and 2025-26 as the member for Corby and East Northamptonshire 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, 2024-25

156 claims, £218,778 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.	7	£166,247	76.0%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	119	£23,678	10.8%
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.	24	£21,240	9.7%
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.	6	£7,612	3.5%

Every year in the register

Lee Barron’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.

Year	Claims	Staffing	Office costs	Accommodation	Travel	Miscellaneous	Total
2024-25	156	£166,247	£23,678	£21,240	£7,612	—	£218,778
2025-26	65	—	£17,183	£763	—	£69	£18,015

A year in which Lee Barron 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, 2024-25

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£159,130
Training - staff	4	£4,065
Pooled staffing services	1	£3,000
Volunteer - agreed arrangement costs	1	£52

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Equipment - purchase	8	£7,606
Rent	7	£6,807
Stationery & printing	76	£4,261
Software & applications	2	£1,586
Venue hire, meetings & surgeries	11	£1,210
Website hosting and design	2	£947

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	9	£18,453
Hotel - London	3	£1,742
Utilities	11	£629
Council tax	1	£416

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	2	£6,528
Hotel - London	1	£780
Mileage - car	1	£185
Parking	1	£95
Other public transport	1	£25

Largest claims, 2024-25

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 2025	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year	£159,130	£159,130
31 March 2025	Staff Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2024-25	£5,209	£5,209
28 January 2025	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Other office equipment	£4,344	£4,344
3 October 2024	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£3,000	£3,000
14 February 2025	Accommodation	Rent	Advance rental payment [*][][**]	£2,600	£2,600
1 February 2025	Accommodation	Rent	Advance reimbursement for [*][][**]	£2,600	£2,600
1 January 2025	Accommodation	Rent	Advance rental reimbursement to cover payment 01/01/2025 - [*][][**]	£2,600	£2,600
1 December 2024	Accommodation	Rent	Advance reimbursement for monthly payment to [*] [*]	£2,600	£2,600
1 November 2024	Accommodation	Rent	Advance rental payment from MP personal account	£2,600	£2,600
1 October 2024	Accommodation	Rent	MP paying rent from personal account and reimbursed by IPSA	£2,600	£2,600
3 September 2024	Accommodation	Rent	Rent for accommodation in London	£2,253	£2,253
25 September 2024	Office Costs	Rent	[***] 09/09/24 to 04/11/24	£1,680	£1,680
24 March 2025	Staffing	Training - staff	ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES [200011725-9344]	£1,500	£1,500
28 March 2025	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Office furniture	£1,497	£1,497
31 March 2025	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2024-25	£1,319	£1,319

Claims refused and money repaid, 2024-25

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £600 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 Lee Barron 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 · Lee Barron’s register of interests and votes · Sources