MPs’ business costs

Leigh Ingham

IPSA paid £264,962 against 264 published rows for Leigh Ingham between 2024-25 and 2025-26 as the member for Stafford 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

179 claims, £240,823 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.14£185,50177.0%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.138£23,1479.6%
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.12£17,8527.4%
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.15£14,3245.9%

Every year in the register

Leigh Ingham’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
2024-25179£185,501£23,147£17,852£14,324£240,823
2025-2685£265£23,499£290£85£24,139

A year in which Leigh Ingham 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 typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£167,924
Training - staff10£13,514
Pooled staffing services1£3,000
Recruitment Services &Costs1£900
Working From Home Allowance1£163

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Equipment - purchase38£7,314
Rent7£6,666
Software & applications3£2,723
Stationery & printing20£2,206
Utilities7£1,526
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage5£839

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent8£16,164
Hotel - London4£1,688

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail2£5,552
Mileage - car5£4,548
Hotel - London2£2,674
Hotel - UK Not London1£1,248
Congestion charge & toll2£150
Subsistence1£118

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.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
31 March 2025StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year£167,924£167,924
25 March 2025StaffingTraining - staffSummer School planning and training [200011920-4]£4,500£4,500
31 March 2025Staff TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£3,918£3,918
7 November 2024Office CostsRent[***]Faster Payment Form - First Rent Payment - [***]£3,666£3,666
5 February 2025Office CostsEquipment - purchaseOther office equipment£3,524£3,524
7 February 2025StaffingPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£3,000£3,000
24 March 2025StaffingTraining - staffCommunications and Stakeholder Engagement Staff Training [200011920-1]£2,500£2,500
13 March 2025AccommodationRent£2,440£2,440
13 February 2025AccommodationRent£2,440£2,440
14 January 2025AccommodationRent£2,440£2,440
17 December 2024AccommodationRent£2,440£2,440
14 November 2024AccommodationRent£2,440£2,440
17 October 2024AccommodationRent[***] - rent for 13/10/2024 - 12/11/2024£2,440£2,440
4 September 2024AccommodationRent[***] - First month´s rent -£2,440£2,440
31 March 2025MP TravelMileage - carAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£2,307£2,307

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 Leigh Ingham 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 · Leigh Ingham’s register of interests and votes · Sources