MPs’ business costs

Dr Peter Prinsley

IPSA paid £228,005 against 208 published rows for Dr Peter Prinsley between 2024-25 and 2025-26 as the member for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket 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

208 claims, £228,005 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.18£147,81664.8%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.165£45,71020.0%
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.10£26,18011.5%
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.15£8,2993.6%

Every year in the register

Dr Peter Prinsley’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
2024-25132£147,816£29,492£24,500£8,299£210,106
2025-2676£16,218£1,680£17,898

A year in which Dr Peter Prinsley 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£119,235
Bought-in services12£21,866
Pooled staffing services1£3,000
Website hosting and design1£2,400
Training - staff3£1,315

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent5£9,473
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs10£8,713
Equipment - purchase19£4,389
Stationery & printing37£3,635
Software & applications8£3,596
Website hosting and design7£3,212

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent8£24,500
Hotel - London2£1,680

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail4£6,305
Mileage - car4£1,295
Parking3£327
Hotel - London1£173
Congestion charge & toll1£120
Subsistence2£79

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£119,235£119,235
14 October 2024StaffingBought-in servicesAdministrative services£6,103£6,103
31 July 2024StaffingBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£5,760£5,760
1 October 2024StaffingBought-in servicesAdministrative services£5,691£5,691
31 March 2025Staff TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£4,788£4,788
1 April 2025Office CostsRent£3,750£3,750
30 December 2024Office CostsRent£3,750£3,750
1 October 2024Office CostsRent£3,750£3,750
28 April 2025AccommodationRent[200011803-351]£3,500£3,500
28 January 2025AccommodationRent£3,500£3,500
30 December 2024AccommodationRent£3,500£3,500
28 November 2024AccommodationRent£3,500£3,500
31 October 2024AccommodationRent£3,500£3,500
28 October 2024AccommodationRent[***]FASTER PAYMENT - Rent £3,500 - [***]£3,500£3,500
1 October 2024AccommodationRent£3,500£3,500

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

3 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £3,620 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 Dr Peter Prinsley 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 · Dr Peter Prinsley’s register of interests and votes · Sources