Civometry

MPs’ business costs

Matt Western

IPSA paid £1,946,360 against 1,995 published rows for Matt Western between 2017-18 and 2025-26 as the member for Warwick and Leamington BC, then Warwick and Leamington 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

278 claims, £313,338 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.2£250,81180.0%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.251£33,68410.8%
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.10£23,7217.6%
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£5,1211.6%

Every year in the register

Matt Western’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2017-18 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
2017-18142£101,727£25,961£13,300£4,498£1,760£147,246
2018-19323£151,655£24,508£21,511£4,966—£202,639
2019-20243£153,906£27,053£20,145£5,925—£207,028
2020-21163£192,045£27,211£19,355£2,252£1,254£242,117
2021-22195£200,086£27,904£21,120£6,738£200£256,048
2022-23281£218,549£27,991£21,466£6,839—£274,845
2023-24307£236,696£25,271£22,511£6,796—£291,274
2024-25278£250,811£33,684£23,721£5,121—£313,338
2025-2663—£9,061£2,764——£11,825

A year in which Matt Western 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£250,786
Training - staff1£25

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent1£12,996
Pooled staffing services4£4,600
Equipment - purchase8£4,181
Stationery & printing53£4,009
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage10£2,719
Software & applications26£1,750

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent1£20,992
Utilities5£1,486
Council tax4£1,244

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail5£4,735
Mileage - car4£265
Hotel - UK Not London1£88
Parking3£26
Other public transport2£9

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£250,786£250,786
31 March 2025AccommodationRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£20,992£20,992
31 March 2025Office CostsRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£12,996£12,996
31 March 2025MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£2,820£2,820
26 March 2025Office CostsEquipment - purchaseOther office equipment£2,520£2,520
25 February 2025Office CostsPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£1,150£1,150
7 February 2025Office CostsPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£1,150£1,150
7 February 2025Office CostsPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£1,150£1,150
12 April 2024Office CostsPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Research Service (Labour)£1,150£1,150
31 March 2025Staff TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£906£906
27 January 2025Office CostsStationery & printingXMA LTD£775£775
29 April 2024AccommodationUtilitiesWater£726£726
1 September 2024Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES£720£720
31 March 2025MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£711£711
19 April 2024Office CostsEquipment - purchaseOffice furniture£667£667

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 £2 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 Matt Western 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 · Matt Western’s register of interests and votes · Sources