MPs’ business costs

Sam Rushworth

IPSA paid £245,147 against 292 published rows for Sam Rushworth between 2024-25 and 2025-26 as the member for Bishop Auckland 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

195 claims, £212,170 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.	5	£149,077	70.3%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	163	£23,596	11.1%
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.	11	£28,061	13.2%
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.	15	£11,261	5.3%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	1	£175	0.1%

Every year in the register

Sam Rushworth’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.

Year	Claims	Staffing	Office costs	Accommodation	Travel	Miscellaneous	Total
2024-25	195	£149,077	£23,596	£28,061	£11,261	£175	£212,170
2025-26	97	£1,750	£25,642	£5,585	—	—	£32,977

A year in which Sam Rushworth 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 type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£145,529
Pooled staffing services	1	£3,000
Training - staff	2	£500
Working From Home Allowance	1	£48

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Equipment - purchase	54	£7,767
Rent	15	£5,667
Stationery & printing	64	£4,710
Software & applications	3	£2,058
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs	3	£1,322
Mobile telephone - equipment purchase	1	£999

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	9	£26,371
Hotel - London	2	£1,690

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rail	6	£8,540
Hotel - London	2	£2,136
Hotel - UK Not London	1	£395
Vehicle hire cost	2	£96
Mileage - car	2	£47
Parking	1	£25

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Removals	1	£175

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.

Date	Category	Cost type	Description	Claimed	Paid
31 March 2025	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year	£145,529	£145,529
31 March 2025	MP Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2024-25	£4,988	£4,988
19 March 2025	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Other office equipment	£3,524	£3,524
11 March 2025	Accommodation	Rent	—	£3,400	£3,400
11 February 2025	Accommodation	Rent	—	£3,400	£3,400
9 January 2025	Accommodation	Rent	—	£3,400	£3,400
10 December 2024	Accommodation	Rent	—	£3,400	£3,400
12 November 2024	Accommodation	Rent	—	£3,400	£3,400
10 October 2024	Accommodation	Rent	—	£3,400	£3,400
10 September 2024	Accommodation	Rent	—	£3,400	£3,400
12 August 2024	Accommodation	Rent	First rent [***] - rental period 09/08/2024 - 08/09/2024	£3,400	£3,400
3 October 2024	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Parliamentary Research Service (Labour)	£3,000	£3,000
2 December 2024	Office Costs	Rent	[***] - 22 Weeks Rent	£2,640	£2,640
31 March 2025	Staff Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2024-25	£1,916	£1,916
26 September 2024	Office Costs	Software & applications	ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES	£1,440	£1,440

Claims refused and money repaid, 2024-25

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £126 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 Sam Rushworth 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 · Sam Rushworth’s register of interests and votes · Sources