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, 2014-15

235 claims, £208,905 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	£154,597	74.0%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	212	£20,101	9.6%
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.	19	£18,423	8.8%
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.	1	£15,783	7.6%

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, 2014-15

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£149,533
Pooled Services: Direct	1	£4,800
Health and Welfare Costs	1	£264

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	12	£5,319
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	26	£2,924
Postage Purchase	15	£2,063
Stationery Purchase	39	£1,959
Computer HW Purchase	3	£1,758
Other	15	£1,167

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	12	£17,232
Council Tax	1	£620
Electricity	4	£278
Service Charges	1	£180
Interim Hotel London Area	1	£113

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£15,783

Largest claims, 2014-15

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 2015	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2014-15 year	£149,533	£149,533
31 March 2015	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2014-15	£15,783	£15,783
9 June 2014	Staffing	Pooled Services: Direct	PRS subscription	£4,800	£4,800
13 February 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,517	£1,517
13 January 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,517	£1,517
9 December 2014	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,517	£1,517
13 November 2014	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,517	£1,517
9 October 2014	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,517	£1,517
10 September 2014	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,517	£1,517
9 August 2014	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,517	£1,517
9 July 2014	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,517	£1,517
11 June 2014	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,517	£1,517
8 May 2014	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,517	£1,517
14 April 2014	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,517	£1,517
24 March 2015	Office Costs	Computer HW Purchase	SCC Outstanding	£793	£793

Claims refused and money repaid, 2014-15

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £17 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