MPs’ business costs

Mr Paul Kohler

IPSA paid £178,141 against 148 published rows for Mr Paul Kohler between 2024-25 and 2025-26 as the member for Wimbledon BC. 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

148 claims, £178,141 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.36£143,69580.7%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.109£33,44118.8%
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.1£600.0%
MiscellaneousClaims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.2£9450.5%

Every year in the register

Mr Paul Kohler’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 costsTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2024-2597£132,955£13,684£60£440£147,138
2025-2651£10,740£19,758£505£31,003

A year in which Mr Paul Kohler 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£77,401
Bought-in services34£61,394
Pooled staffing services1£4,900

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent1£7,405
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs8£6,286
Moving Fees3£6,121
Stationery & printing56£4,923
Software & applications11£3,940
Bought-in services1£1,440

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail1£60

Miscellaneous

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Removals2£945

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£77,401£77,401
18 March 2025Office CostsRent270 The Broadway [***]£7,405£7,405
3 July 2025StaffingPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Support Team (Liberal Democrat)£4,900£4,900
9 May 2025Office CostsMoving FeesLegal costs£4,200£4,200
18 December 2025Office CostsMaintenance, Redecorations & RepairsTHE HANDY SQUAD LIMITE£4,145£4,145
11 February 2025StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£2,820£2,820
17 April 2025StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£2,800£2,800
28 October 2024StaffingBought-in servicesAdministrative services£2,688£2,688
11 December 2024StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£2,640£2,640
17 April 2025StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£2,500£2,500
12 March 2025StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£2,500£2,500
12 March 2025StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£2,500£2,500
11 February 2025StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£2,500£2,500
11 December 2024StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£2,500£2,500
13 November 2024StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£2,500£2,500

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: £0 not paid and £7,492 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 Mr Paul Kohler 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 · Mr Paul Kohler’s register of interests and votes · Sources