MPs’ business costs

Pamela Nash

IPSA paid £969,131 against 906 published rows for Pamela Nash between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Airdrie and Shotts CC, then Motherwell, Wishaw and Carluke 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, 2010-11 to 2025-26

906 claims, £969,131 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.25£583,46460.2%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.696£115,87412.0%
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.131£120,59312.4%
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.12£90,8599.4%
Starting up and winding upThe one-off costs of opening an office on election and of closing one on leaving. These fall in the years around a general election and are absent from the rest.22£46,9174.8%
MiscellaneousClaims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.20£11,4241.2%

Every year in the register

Pamela Nash’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 costsAccommodationTravelStarting up and winding upMiscellaneousTotal
2010-1167£51,797£10,285£16,400£6,783£85,264
2011-12148£83,709£25,671£18,104£14,326£7,280£149,090
2012-13185£117,104£22,984£23,570£18,899£282£182,839
2013-14192£120,542£20,047£20,764£17,009£178,362
2014-15169£132,827£21,536£19,257£20,499£194,119
2015-1654£13,489£2,535£1,859£1,508£46,917£3,862£70,170
2024-2567£63,996£7,560£18,847£11,835£102,238
2025-2624£5,257£1,791£7,048

A year in which Pamela Nash 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, 2010-11 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll7£569,996
Pooled Services3£8,400
Pooled Services: Direct1£4,800
Public Tr RAIL Int/Volntr - RT9£192
Working From Home Allowance1£61
Food & Drink Intern/Volunteer4£14

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Const Office Rent24£36,625
Stationery Purchase194£13,567
Other114£10,106
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental37£6,603
Rent1£4,855
Const Office Gas27£3,942

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Accommodation Rent67£92,233
Rent8£14,747
Council Tax8£4,505
Hotel - London7£3,298
Council tax3£2,594
Electricity16£1,418

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Aggregated Travel Costs6£79,024
Air travel1£7,144
Hotel - London2£2,535
Rail2£2,129
Mileage - car1£27

Starting up and winding up

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£39,076
Office Rent1£5,016
Travel Costs9£941
Office Miscellaneous2£485
Office Postage/Stationery/Tel2£414
Home Removal Costs2£387

Miscellaneous

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Contingency3£7,280
Accom Rent (Wind. Up)2£3,033
Council Tax (Wind. Up)3£374
Removal Costs - Contingency3£282
Accom Service Chgs (Wind. Up)1£130
Accom Electricity (Wind. Up)2£109

Largest claims, 2010-11 to 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.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
31 March 2015StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2014-15 year£128,027£128,027
31 March 2014StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2013-14 year£120,542£120,542
31 March 2013StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2012-13 year£108,704£108,704
31 March 2012StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2011-12 year£83,502£83,502
31 March 2025StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year£63,935£63,935
31 March 2011StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2010-11 year£51,797£51,797
31 March 2016Winding UpPayrollTotal payroll costs from the Winding Up budget for the 2015-16 year£39,076£39,076
31 March 2015TravelAggregated Travel CostsAggregated figure for travel during 2014-15£20,499£20,499
31 March 2013TravelAggregated Travel CostsAggregated figure for travel during 2012-13£18,899£18,899
31 March 2014TravelAggregated Travel CostsAggregated figure for travel during 2013-14£17,009£17,009
31 March 2012TravelAggregated Travel CostsAggregated figure for travel during 2011-12£14,326£14,326
31 March 2016StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2015-16 year£13,489£13,489
31 March 2025MP TravelAir travelAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£7,144£7,144
31 March 2011TravelAggregated Travel CostsAggregated figure for travel during 2010-11£6,783£6,783
28 May 2015Winding UpOffice RentConstituency Office Rent 2015£5,016£5,016

Claims refused and money repaid, 2010-11 to 2025-26

16 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £253 not paid and £6,393 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 Pamela Nash 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 · Pamela Nash’s register of interests and votes · Sources