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, 2013-14

297 claims, £158,681 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.	3	£104,933	66.1%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	270	£20,719	13.1%
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.	21	£19,674	12.4%
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.	1	£13,123	8.3%
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.	2	£231	0.1%

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, 2013-14

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£99,933
Pooled Services: Direct	1	£4,800
Professional Services (Staff.)	1	£200

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	12	£4,733
Stationery Purchase	97	£4,289
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	22	£2,628
Advertising	2	£1,446
Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting	28	£987
Recruitment Services	3	£932

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	12	£18,200
Council Tax	1	£624
Electricity	5	£351
Interim Hotel London Area	1	£300
Service Charges	1	£180
Interim Hotel NOT London Ar	1	£20

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£13,123

Starting up and winding up

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Comp HW Purch StartUp	1	£170
Comp SW Purch StartUp	1	£61

Largest claims, 2013-14

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 2014	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2013-14 year	£99,933	£99,933
31 March 2014	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2013-14	£13,123	£13,123
25 April 2013	Staffing	Pooled Services: Direct	PRS Subscription 2013/14	£4,800	£4,800
12 March 2014	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,517	£1,517
12 February 2014	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,517	£1,517
13 January 2014	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,517	£1,517
11 December 2013	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,517	£1,517
8 November 2013	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,517	£1,517
10 October 2013	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,517	£1,517
10 September 2013	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,517	£1,517
11 August 2013	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,517	£1,517
11 July 2013	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,517	£1,517
10 June 2013	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,517	£1,517
10 May 2013	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,517	£1,517
12 April 2013	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,517	£1,517

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