MPs’ business costs

Neil O'Brien

IPSA paid £1,913,250 against 1,174 published rows for Neil O'Brien between 2017-18 and 2025-26 as the member for Harborough CC, then Harborough, Oadby and Wigston 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

68 claims, £14,948 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.	1	£1,200	8.0%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	41	£10,862	72.7%
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.	26	£2,887	19.3%

Every year in the register

Neil O'Brien’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.

Year	Claims	Staffing	Office costs	Accommodation	Travel	Miscellaneous	Total
2017-18	78	£112,975	£9,115	£11,990	£7,286	—	£141,366
2018-19	122	£152,900	£17,509	£20,833	£9,501	£3,715	£204,457
2019-20	169	£158,736	£16,749	£28,804	£11,579	£3,072	£218,940
2020-21	148	£172,470	£17,372	£27,024	£4,989	—	£221,854
2021-22	150	£169,648	£18,684	£27,510	£12,556	—	£228,399
2022-23	148	£217,283	£12,224	£27,782	£16,234	£1,440	£274,963
2023-24	143	£222,505	£24,748	£32,844	£15,890	—	£295,986
2024-25	148	£242,307	£25,424	£32,656	£11,949	—	£312,336
2025-26	68	£1,200	£10,862	£2,887	—	—	£14,948

A year in which Neil O'Brien 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.

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Bought-in services	1	£1,200

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Service charge & ground Rent	6	£5,119
Software & applications	5	£1,893
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	12	£1,006
Parking	5	£708
Equipment - purchase	2	£470
Stationery & printing	2	£446

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Council tax	12	£1,469
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	12	£730
Utilities	2	£687

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.

Date	Category	Cost type	Description	Claimed	Paid
31 July 2025	Office Costs	Software & applications	ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES	£1,476	£1,476
25 March 2025	Staffing	Bought-in services	Professional & consultancy	£1,200	£1,200
19 March 2026	Office Costs	Service charge & ground Rent	Office quarterly service charge	£1,190	£1,190
17 December 2025	Office Costs	Service charge & ground Rent	Office quarterly service charge	£1,190	£1,190
24 June 2025	Office Costs	Service charge & ground Rent	Office quarterly service charge	£1,044	£1,044
17 March 2025	Office Costs	Service charge & ground Rent	Office quarterly service charge [200011805-3]	£964	£964
19 November 2025	Office Costs	Service charge & ground Rent	Office quarterly service charge	£731	£731
1 May 2025	Office Costs	Website hosting and design	https://www.neilobrien.org.uk	£360	£360
12 January 2026	Accommodation	Utilities	Water	£355	£355
28 May 2025	Office Costs	Stationery & printing	Evolution printing	£341	£341
9 July 2025	Accommodation	Utilities	Water	£332	£332
30 June 2025	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Other office equipment	£270	£270
14 March 2025	Office Costs	Insurance - contents	HOWDEN UK BROKERS LIMI [200011725-5838] [200011805-5]	£234	£234
4 May 2025	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Other office equipment	£200	£200
27 February 2026	Office Costs	Insurance - contents	HOWDEN UK BROKERS LIMI	£195	£195

Claims refused and money repaid, 2025-26

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £52 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 Neil O'Brien 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 · Neil O'Brien’s register of interests and votes · Sources