MPs’ business costs

Pat Cullen

IPSA paid £148,418 against 103 published rows for Pat Cullen between 2024-25 and 2025-26 as the member for Fermanagh and South Tyrone 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 to 2025-26

103 claims, £148,418 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.1£110,76774.6%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.92£34,24123.1%
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.4£7420.5%
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.6£2,6691.8%

Every year in the register

Pat Cullen’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2024-25 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 costsAccommodationTravelTotal
2024-2547£110,767£18,615£195£2,669£132,245
2025-2656£15,626£547£16,173

A year in which Pat Cullen 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 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£110,767

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent9£9,600
Utilities12£4,603
Software & applications7£4,208
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs10£3,399
Equipment - purchase9£3,172
Business rates2£2,220

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Hotel - London4£742

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Air travel1£1,527
Mileage - car1£461
Hotel - London1£420
Rail1£106
Hotel - UK Not London1£102
Parking1£53

Largest claims, 2024-25 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 2025StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year£110,767£110,767
24 September 2024Office CostsRent[***]Pat Cullen-[***]-rent payment£2,400£2,400
20 January 2026Office CostsLandline phone & internet - installation & equipment purchaseLandline & internet package£1,644£1,644
31 March 2025MP TravelAir travelAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£1,527£1,527
20 January 2026Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES£1,476£1,476
26 February 2025Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES£1,440£1,440
27 March 2025Office CostsUtilitiesElectricity£1,374£1,374
28 April 2025Office CostsBusiness ratesConstituency Office Rates Bill£1,354£1,354
20 January 2026Office CostsMaintenance, Redecorations & RepairsSIGN RELOAD LIMITED£1,230£1,230
1 April 2025Office CostsRent£1,200£1,200
4 March 2025Office CostsRent£1,200£1,200
4 February 2025Office CostsRent£1,200£1,200
6 January 2025Office CostsRent£1,200£1,200
3 December 2024Office CostsRent£1,200£1,200
5 November 2024Office CostsRent£1,200£1,200

Claims refused and money repaid, 2024-25 to 2025-26

2 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £140 not paid and £105 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 Pat Cullen 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 · Pat Cullen’s register of interests and votes · Sources