Civometry

MPs’ business costs

Richard Foord

IPSA paid £783,740 against 526 published rows for Richard Foord between 2022-23 and 2025-26 as the member for Tiverton and Honiton CC, then Honiton and Sidmouth 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, 2022-23 to 2025-26

526 claims, £783,740 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.12£591,47075.5%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.367£96,11712.3%
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.103£70,7959.0%
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.44£25,3583.2%

Every year in the register

Richard Foord’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2022-23 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
2022-23211£136,279£22,890£10,645£6,870£176,684
2023-24185£225,659£38,003£22,349£10,801£296,813
2024-25100£229,531£31,273£32,822£7,687£301,313
2025-2630—£3,951£4,979—£8,929

A year in which Richard Foord 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, 2022-23 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll3£573,227
Pooled staffing services4£17,026
Working From Home Allowance3£1,161
Volunteer - agreed arrangement costs2£56

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent19£52,476
Stationery & printing200£16,769
Advertising and contact cards10£8,958
Equipment - purchase17£7,068
Software & applications23£4,333
Venue hire, meetings & surgeries84£4,291

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Hotel - London90£37,169
Rent9£27,147
Council tax4£6,480

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail15£18,801
Hotel - London3£3,184
Hotel - UK Not London2£1,386
Mileage - car5£765
Air travel1£525
Subsistence4£411

Largest claims, 2022-23 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£222,521£222,521
31 March 2024StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year£218,946£218,946
31 March 2023StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year£131,760£131,760
31 March 2025Office CostsRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£23,022£23,022
23 May 2024StaffingPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Support Team (Liberal Democrat)£6,530£6,530
31 March 2024MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2023-24£5,313£5,313
31 March 2025MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£4,442£4,442
20 September 2022StaffingPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Support Team (Liberal Democrat)£4,346£4,346
31 March 2023MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2022-23£3,832£3,832
11 March 2025AccommodationRent—£3,500£3,500
11 February 2025AccommodationRent—£3,500£3,500
9 January 2025AccommodationRent—£3,500£3,500
10 December 2024AccommodationRent—£3,500£3,500
12 November 2024AccommodationRent—£3,500£3,500
10 October 2024AccommodationRent—£3,500£3,500

Claims refused and money repaid, 2022-23 to 2025-26

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £38 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 Richard Foord 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 · Richard Foord’s register of interests and votes · Sources