MPs’ business costs

Peter Fortune

IPSA paid £189,804 against 112 published rows for Peter Fortune between 2024-25 and 2025-26 as the member for Bromley and Biggin Hill 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

100 claims, £180,830 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.3£163,51890.4%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.93£15,5078.6%
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.4£1,8051.0%

Every year in the register

Peter Fortune’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 costsTravelTotal
2024-25100£163,518£15,507£1,805£180,830
2025-2612£375£8,599£8,974

A year in which Peter Fortune 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

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£157,878
Pooled staffing services1£5,265
Bought-in services1£375

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Stationery & printing72£8,255
Rent8£5,529
Software & applications2£1,208
Equipment - purchase2£293
Mobile telephone - contract & usage8£191
Advertising and contact cards1£30

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail2£907
Air travel1£811
Hotel - UK Not London1£88

Largest claims, 2024-25

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£157,878£157,878
17 September 2024StaffingPooled staffing servicesPolicy Research Unit (Conservative)£5,265£5,265
20 March 2025Office CostsStationery & printingBanner March 2025£1,117£1,117
1 April 2025Office CostsRent£922£922
4 March 2025Office CostsRent£922£922
4 February 2025Office CostsRent£922£922
6 January 2025Office CostsRent£922£922
3 December 2024Office CostsRent£922£922
5 November 2024Office CostsRent£922£922
24 October 2024Office CostsRent[***] - October´s Rent£922£922
20 March 2025Office CostsStationery & printingBanner March 2025£915£915
20 March 2025Office CostsStationery & printingBanner March 2025£915£915
20 March 2025Office CostsStationery & printingBanner March 2025£915£915
31 March 2025MP TravelAir travelAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£811£811
30 October 2024Office CostsSoftware & applicationsELECTED TECHNOLOGIES [200011792-414]£608£608

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 Peter Fortune 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 · Peter Fortune’s register of interests and votes · Sources