MPs’ business costs

Sarah Champion

IPSA paid £2,480,126 against 2,590 published rows for Sarah Champion between 2012-13 and 2025-26 as the member for Rotherham 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, 2012-13 to 2025-26

2,590 claims, £2,480,126 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.	47	£1,790,419	72.2%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	2,182	£290,265	11.7%
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.	257	£269,002	10.8%
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.	93	£124,519	5.0%
Starting up and winding up	The one-off costs of opening an office on election and of closing one on leaving. These fall in the years around a general election and are absent from the rest.	11	£5,921	0.2%

Every year in the register

Sarah Champion’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2012-13 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	Starting up and winding up	Total
2012-13	115	£17,152	£7,156	£7,927	£4,686	£5,689	£42,611
2013-14	297	£104,933	£20,719	£19,674	£13,123	£231	£158,681
2014-15	235	£154,597	£20,101	£18,423	£15,783	—	£208,905
2015-16	191	£119,265	£19,801	£15,884	£12,177	—	£167,127
2016-17	187	£141,362	£20,190	£19,661	£10,029	—	£191,241
2017-18	163	£123,646	£20,473	£21,426	£6,203	—	£171,748
2018-19	167	£121,934	£17,245	£22,215	£10,171	—	£171,566
2019-20	215	£132,843	£23,277	£21,624	£9,883	—	£187,628
2020-21	173	£130,582	£22,837	£21,891	£1,669	—	£176,979
2021-22	185	£157,212	£23,857	£22,694	£9,525	—	£213,288
2022-23	187	£167,100	£20,371	£23,534	£9,360	—	£220,365
2023-24	217	£190,246	£27,683	£25,742	£10,221	—	£253,892
2024-25	186	£229,402	£22,961	£27,139	£11,689	—	£291,191
2025-26	72	£143	£23,593	£1,168	—	—	£24,905

A year in which Sarah Champion 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, 2012-13 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	13	£1,744,647
Pooled Services: Direct	6	£28,800
Pooled staffing services	6	£14,700
Health and Welfare Costs	3	£1,174
Bought-in services	3	£531
Volunteer - agreed arrangement costs	14	£267

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	50	£36,973
Const Office Rent	80	£32,358
Stationery & printing	208	£31,861
Stationery Purchase	295	£20,735
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage	147	£17,479
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	151	£17,297

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	61	£136,451
Accommodation Rent	76	£114,595
Council tax	6	£4,101
Council Tax	7	£3,971
Utilities	62	£2,892
Interim Hotel London Area	6	£1,913

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	7	£72,173
Rail	24	£42,528
Other public transport	10	£2,680
Mileage - car	19	£1,797
Air travel	4	£1,573
Hotel - London	1	£1,201

Starting up and winding up

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Office Furn Purch StartUp	2	£3,750
Training for MP Staff StartUp	3	£936
Website Design StartUp	2	£604
Comp SW Purch StartUp	2	£396
Comp HW Purch StartUp	1	£170
Scanner Purch StartUp	1	£64

Largest claims, 2012-13 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.

Date	Category	Cost type	Description	Claimed	Paid
31 March 2025	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year	£229,135	£229,135
31 March 2024	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year	£190,246	£190,246
31 March 2023	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year	£162,900	£162,900
31 March 2022	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£152,676	£152,676
31 March 2015	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2014-15 year	£149,533	£149,533
31 March 2017	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year	£136,122	£136,122
31 March 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£129,991	£129,991
31 March 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£126,982	£126,982
31 March 2018	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year	£118,376	£118,376
31 March 2019	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year	£117,134	£117,134
31 March 2016	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year	£114,465	£114,465
31 March 2014	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2013-14 year	£99,933	£99,933
31 March 2025	Accommodation	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25	£25,859	£25,859
31 March 2013	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2012-13 year	£17,152	£17,152
31 March 2015	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2014-15	£15,783	£15,783

Claims refused and money repaid, 2012-13 to 2025-26

10 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £22 not paid and £1,202 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 Sarah Champion 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 · Sarah Champion’s register of interests and votes · Sources