MPs’ business costs

Mark Pritchard

IPSA paid £2,226,698 against 2,091 published rows for Mark Pritchard between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for The Wrekin 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, 2015-16

154 claims, £147,080 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.12£111,34875.7%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.115£17,57011.9%
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.26£10,9477.4%
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.1£7,2154.9%

Every year in the register

Mark Pritchard’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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2010-11118£66,688£14,000£5,136£9,599£95,422
2011-12133£89,670£17,712£6,969£11,001£125,351
2012-13160£98,865£16,719£24,583£10,331£150,497
2013-14174£107,345£20,141£22,806£8,000£158,291
2014-15140£113,077£18,478£9,564£8,286£149,404
2015-16154£111,348£17,570£10,947£7,215£147,080
2016-17129£103,384£16,401£11,225£4,313£135,323
2017-18137£98,389£16,621£12,969£2,289£130,268
2018-19123£106,557£17,360£13,261£4,497£141,675
2019-20130£147,451£18,276£27,930£4,333£1,287£199,277
2020-21128£126,712£19,581£28,895£2,537£177,724
2021-22133£78,566£16,578£31,173£4,320£130,638
2022-23124£85,638£16,911£33,066£5,842£141,456
2023-24126£94,425£23,510£32,786£3,925£1,133£155,780
2024-25122£113,416£17,606£35,970£4,883£1,660£173,535
2025-2660£11,857£1,828£1,292£14,977

A year in which Mark Pritchard 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

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£101,354
Professional Services (Staff.)10£9,538
Health and Welfare Costs1£456

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Const Office Rent13£6,294
Stationery Purchase27£2,442
Website - Design/Production3£2,214
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental23£2,181
Newspapers/Journals9£1,286
Const Office Electricity7£902

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Accommodation Rent12£8,877
Council Tax5£1,206
Electricity9£864

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Aggregated Travel Costs1£7,215

Largest claims, 2015-16

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 2016StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2015-16 year£101,354£101,354
31 March 2016TravelAggregated Travel CostsAggregated figure for travel during 2015-16£7,215£7,215
4 February 2016StaffingProfessional Services (Staff.)PV Dec-Jan£1,413£1,413
6 August 2015StaffingProfessional Services (Staff.)PV July£1,406£1,406
3 July 2015StaffingProfessional Services (Staff.)PV£1,406£1,406
5 June 2015StaffingProfessional Services (Staff.)PV May£1,035£1,035
2 December 2015StaffingProfessional Services (Staff.)PV Nov£875£875
3 November 2015StaffingProfessional Services (Staff.)October£844£844
4 March 2016StaffingProfessional Services (Staff.)PV£838£838
30 June 2015AccommodationCouncil TaxPayment card£791£791
27 January 2016AccommodationAccommodation Rent£750£750
25 December 2015AccommodationAccommodation Rent£750£750
25 November 2015AccommodationAccommodation Rent[***]£750£750
27 October 2015AccommodationAccommodation Rent£750£750
24 September 2015AccommodationAccommodation Rent£750£750

Claims refused and money repaid, 2015-16

2 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £219 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 Mark Pritchard 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 · Mark Pritchard’s register of interests and votes · Sources