MPs’ business costs

Nick Thomas-Symonds

IPSA paid £2,152,624 against 1,231 published rows for Nick Thomas-Symonds between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Torfaen 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, 2017-18

142 claims, £201,676 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.	6	£147,520	73.1%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	101	£22,762	11.3%
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	£27,652	13.7%
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.	1	£3,742	1.9%

Every year in the register

Nick Thomas-Symonds’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2015-16 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	Starting up and winding up	Total
2015-16	113	£121,476	£17,409	£21,894	£5,428	£5,517	£171,724
2016-17	116	£142,237	£15,979	£26,188	£6,329	—	£190,733
2017-18	142	£147,520	£22,762	£27,652	£3,742	—	£201,676
2018-19	129	£149,381	£21,065	£25,368	£6,163	—	£201,977
2019-20	124	£131,607	£19,719	£25,055	£8,495	—	£184,875
2020-21	94	£134,879	£16,997	£28,939	£5,526	—	£186,341
2021-22	109	£138,643	£16,785	£31,633	£9,688	—	£196,749
2022-23	106	£192,270	£21,313	£31,741	£10,832	—	£256,156
2023-24	142	£224,246	£22,347	£33,012	£11,384	—	£290,990
2024-25	103	£199,045	£22,571	£34,465	£3,560	—	£259,641
2025-26	53	—	£10,097	£1,666	—	—	£11,763

A year in which Nick Thomas-Symonds 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, 2017-18

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£146,725
Health and Welfare Costs	3	£628
Public Tr RAIL Volunteer - RT	2	£167

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Professional Services: Direct	4	£4,800
Const Office Rent	2	£3,750
IT/Other Equipment Hire	11	£2,235
Website - Hosting	2	£1,990
Const Office Cleaning	26	£1,494
Stationery Purchase	12	£1,467

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	13	£26,276
Council Tax	13	£745
Gas	4	£323
Electricity	2	£199
Water	2	£109

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£3,742

Largest claims, 2017-18

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 2018	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year	£146,725	£146,725
31 March 2018	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2017-18	£3,742	£3,742
13 June 2017	Office Costs	Const Office Rent	Rent	£3,041	£3,041
2 March 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,120	£2,120
21 January 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,120	£2,120
21 December 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,120	£2,120
4 December 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,120	£2,120
3 November 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,120	£2,120
3 October 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,120	£2,120
6 September 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,120	£2,120
2 August 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,120	£2,120
5 July 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,120	£2,120
5 June 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,120	£2,120
4 May 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,120	£2,120
5 April 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£2,120	£2,120

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 Nick Thomas-Symonds 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 · Nick Thomas-Symonds’s register of interests and votes · Sources