Civometry

MPs’ business costs

Rupert Lowe

IPSA paid £190,981 against 214 published rows for Rupert Lowe between 2024-25 and 2025-26 as the member for Great Yarmouth 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

214 claims, £190,981 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.21£155,50881.4%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.173£29,83515.6%
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.6£2,8251.5%
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.13£2,4231.3%
MiscellaneousClaims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.1£3900.2%

Every year in the register

Rupert Lowe’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 costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2024-25156£132,111£12,693—£2,423—£147,227
2025-2658£23,397£17,143£2,825—£390£43,754

A year in which Rupert Lowe 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£110,549
Bought-in services18£44,082
Training - staff2£877

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Stationery & printing106£6,264
Bought-in services3£5,220
Software & applications6£3,541
Rent9£3,150
Equipment - purchase11£3,146
Venue hire, meetings & surgeries11£2,257

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Council tax1£1,774
Parking1£510
Utilities1£291
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage2£150
Landline phone & internet - installation & equipment purchase1£100

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Mileage - car6£1,001
Hotel - UK Not London1£565
Hotel - London1£393
Rail2£270
Congestion charge & toll1£180
Parking1£7

Miscellaneous

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Removals1£390

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£110,549£110,549
16 July 2025StaffingBought-in servicesComms & Media£2,686£2,686
16 April 2025StaffingBought-in servicesComms & Media£2,623£2,623
27 February 2025StaffingBought-in servicesComms & Media£2,619£2,619
16 August 2025StaffingBought-in servicesComms & Media£2,583£2,583
12 June 2025StaffingBought-in servicesComms & Media£2,552£2,552
7 January 2026StaffingBought-in servicesComms & Media£2,502£2,502
12 May 2025StaffingBought-in servicesComms & Media£2,502£2,502
7 January 2026StaffingBought-in servicesComms & Media£2,496£2,496
21 November 2025Office CostsBought-in servicesComms & Media£2,460£2,460
2 March 2026StaffingBought-in servicesComms & Media£2,400£2,400
31 January 2026StaffingBought-in servicesComms & Media£2,400£2,400
14 October 2025Office CostsBought-in servicesComms & Media£2,400£2,400
22 September 2025StaffingBought-in servicesComms & Media£2,400£2,400
12 February 2025StaffingBought-in servicesComms & Media£2,400£2,400

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

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £25 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 Rupert Lowe 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 · Rupert Lowe’s register of interests and votes · Sources