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, 2025-26

65 claims, £18,015 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.61£17,18395.4%
AccommodationThe 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.1£7634.2%
MiscellaneousClaims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.3£690.4%

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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2024-25156£166,247£23,678£21,240£7,612£218,778
2025-2665£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, 2025-26

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

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Stationery & printing10£5,515
Equipment - purchase9£3,845
Software & applications2£1,930
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs5£1,092
Venue hire, meetings & surgeries7£914
Bought-in services1£846

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Council tax1£763

Miscellaneous

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Removals3£69

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
6 August 2025Office CostsStationery & printingRIVERSIDE PRINTERS£3,033£3,033
7 April 2025Office CostsEquipment - purchaseOffice furniture£2,601£2,601
15 July 2025Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES£1,476£1,476
11 September 2025Office CostsStationery & printingRIVERSIDE PRINTERS£889£889
14 July 2025Office CostsBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£846£846
21 May 2025AccommodationCouncil taxAnnual Council Tax Bill for [***] [***] [***] - MP London accommodation£763£763
17 October 2025Office CostsStationery & printingCARTRIDGEPEOPLE.COM£639£639
17 June 2025Office CostsBusiness ratesWWW.NORTHNORTHANTS.GOV£628£628
10 October 2025Office CostsLandline phone & internet - installation & equipment purchaseInternet£521£521
1 May 2025Office CostsMaintenance, Redecorations & RepairsPainting of both floors of new office£480£480
5 August 2024Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES [200011805-69]£454£454
22 May 2025MiscellaneousRemovalsLONG MARSH LIMITED£350£350
28 October 2025Office CostsStationery & printingCARTRIDGEPEOPLE.COM£330£330
28 May 2025Office CostsEquipment - purchaseOffice furniture£325£325
13 August 2025Office CostsMaintenance, Redecorations & RepairsOffice Cleaning June, July and August£264£264

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