MPs’ business costs

Mr Mark Francois

IPSA paid £2,143,419 against 1,037 published rows for Mr Mark Francois between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Rayleigh and Wickford 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, 2019-20

116 claims, £149,283 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.	18	£136,368	91.3%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	58	£4,272	2.9%
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.	34	£8,070	5.4%
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	£574	0.4%

Every year in the register

Mr Mark Francois’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2010-11 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
2010-11	18	£72,390	£3,497	—	—	—	£75,887
2011-12	19	£92,046	£3,104	—	—	£269	£95,419
2012-13	45	£96,883	£1,992	—	—	—	£98,875
2013-14	44	£103,421	£1,928	—	£191	—	£105,540
2014-15	41	£119,260	£2,081	—	£81	—	£121,423
2015-16	31	£96,776	£4,404	—	£117	—	£101,297
2016-17	22	£98,679	£1,125	—	—	—	£99,804
2017-18	57	£115,853	£3,229	£4,744	£234	—	£124,060
2018-19	74	£114,454	£2,992	£11,800	£280	—	£129,526
2019-20	116	£136,368	£4,272	£8,070	£574	—	£149,283
2020-21	68	£167,555	£5,202	£3,693	—	—	£176,450
2021-22	91	£170,191	£4,898	£7,366	£326	—	£182,780
2022-23	95	£184,337	£4,534	£8,922	£158	—	£197,951
2023-24	110	£196,091	£8,572	£10,409	£322	—	£215,394
2024-25	132	£224,586	£8,067	£11,319	£852	—	£244,824
2025-26	74	£6,000	£7,643	£11,262	—	—	£24,905

A year in which Mr Mark Francois 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, 2019-20

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£118,526
Bought-in services	15	£12,700
Pooled staffing services	2	£5,142

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Stationery & printing	53	£2,638
Advertising and contact cards	3	£1,294
Website hosting and design	1	£300
Bought-in services	1	£40

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Hotel - London	32	£7,898
Hotel - UK Not London	2	£172

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	3	£189
Air travel	1	£155
Taxi	1	£140
Hotel - UK Not London	1	£90

Largest claims, 2019-20

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 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£118,526	£118,526
15 May 2019	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Policy Research Unit (Conservative)	£3,142	£3,142
3 October 2019	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	European Research Group (Conservative)	£2,000	£2,000
6 March 2020	Staffing	Bought-in services	Administrative services	£1,500	£1,500
1 December 2019	Staffing	Bought-in services	Administrative services	£1,500	£1,500
30 September 2019	Staffing	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£1,500	£1,500
24 June 2019	Staffing	Bought-in services	Administrative services	£1,500	£1,500
26 March 2019	Staffing	Bought-in services	Administrative services	£1,500	£1,500
1 April 2019	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	12 month Surgery Advertisement in Hockley Living Magazine	£720	£720
26 February 2020	Staffing	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£600	£600
1 June 2019	Staffing	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£600	£600
24 March 2020	Staffing	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£500	£500
24 March 2020	Staffing	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£500	£500
28 January 2020	Staffing	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£500	£500
23 December 2019	Staffing	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£500	£500

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 Mr Mark Francois 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 · Mr Mark Francois’s register of interests and votes · Sources