MPs’ business costs

Pete Wishart

IPSA paid £3,070,348 against 2,185 published rows for Pete Wishart between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Perth and North Perthshire CC, then Perth and Kinross-shire 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, 2021-22

117 claims, £211,626 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.	2	£150,078	70.9%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	89	£21,859	10.3%
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.	14	£23,173	11.0%
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.	12	£16,516	7.8%

Every year in the register

Pete Wishart’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.

Year	Claims	Staffing	Office costs	Accommodation	Travel	Miscellaneous	Total
2010-11	81	£88,677	£16,070	£15,296	£17,199	—	£137,241
2011-12	131	£108,998	£21,722	£17,885	£20,887	—	£169,492
2012-13	142	£110,870	£22,135	£20,125	£22,349	—	£175,478
2013-14	135	£113,800	£18,192	£19,020	£23,229	£4,336	£178,577
2014-15	166	£112,870	£17,209	£17,919	£21,340	£5,185	£174,523
2015-16	163	£103,119	£32,074	£20,349	£21,424	—	£176,966
2016-17	145	£105,523	£21,919	£18,510	£24,025	—	£169,978
2017-18	178	£131,811	£22,740	£21,647	£15,957	—	£192,155
2018-19	177	£136,706	£24,093	£23,251	£32,121	—	£216,171
2019-20	140	£152,150	£22,381	£22,208	£27,669	—	£224,409
2020-21	139	£169,801	£23,225	£20,811	£4,806	£1,130	£219,772
2021-22	117	£150,078	£21,859	£23,173	£16,516	—	£211,626
2022-23	129	£164,347	£21,220	£25,116	£30,928	£244	£241,855
2023-24	150	£183,220	£25,902	£26,136	£32,785	—	£268,042
2024-25	127	£210,487	£26,191	£28,656	£31,654	—	£296,989
2025-26	65	—	£14,494	£2,579	—	—	£17,073

A year in which Pete Wishart 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, 2021-22

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£138,867
Pooled staffing services	1	£11,211

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	1	£10,164
Advertising and contact cards	16	£1,992
Utilities	18	£1,806
Working From Home Allowance	1	£1,224
Software & applications	2	£1,077
Stationery & printing	8	£1,059

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	12	£22,100
Council tax	1	£759
Utilities	1	£315

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Air travel	2	£12,239
Rail	3	£1,665
Parking	1	£1,581
Mileage - car	3	£462
Taxi	1	£369
Railcard	1	£120

Largest claims, 2021-22

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 2022	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£138,867	£138,867
31 March 2022	MP Travel	Air travel	Aggregated figure for travel during 2021-22	£11,928	£11,928
14 July 2021	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Scottish National Party Research Team (SNP)	£11,211	£11,211
31 March 2022	Office Costs	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£10,164	£10,164
24 March 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,842	£1,842
24 February 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,842	£1,842
25 January 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,842	£1,842
23 December 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,842	£1,842
23 November 2021	Accommodation	Rent	Rent	£1,842	£1,842
26 October 2021	Accommodation	Rent	Rent	£1,842	£1,842
23 September 2021	Accommodation	Rent	Rent	£1,842	£1,842
24 August 2021	Accommodation	Rent	Rent	£1,842	£1,842
27 July 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,842	£1,842
24 June 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,842	£1,842
24 May 2021	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,842	£1,842

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 Pete Wishart 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 · Pete Wishart’s register of interests and votes · Sources