MPs’ business costs
Sarah Pochin
IPSA paid £86,289 against 68 published rows for Sarah Pochin between 2025-26 and 2025-26 as the member for Runcorn and Helsby 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, 2025-26 to 2025-26
68 claims, £86,289 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. | 30 | £47,663 | 55.2% |
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 38 | £38,625 | 44.8% |
What each category is made of, 2025-26 to 2025-26
The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.
Staffing
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Bought-in services | 30 | £47,663 |
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs | 1 | £15,050 |
| Service charge & ground Rent | 4 | £8,122 |
| Business rates | 5 | £5,060 |
| Moving Fees | 1 | £3,000 |
| Software & applications | 3 | £2,246 |
| Utilities | 3 | £2,133 |
Largest claims, 2025-26 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 October 2025 | Office Costs | Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs | New Office Refurbishment | £15,050 | £15,050 |
| 20 March 2026 | Staffing | Bought-in services | Professional & consultancy | £5,850 | £5,850 |
| 29 July 2025 | Staffing | Bought-in services | Professional & consultancy | £3,300 | £3,300 |
| 10 September 2025 | Staffing | Bought-in services | Professional & consultancy | £3,000 | £3,000 |
| 13 August 2025 | Office Costs | Moving Fees | Legal costs | £3,000 | £3,000 |
| 30 October 2025 | Staffing | Bought-in services | Professional & consultancy | £2,900 | £2,900 |
| 23 September 2025 | Staffing | Bought-in services | Professional & consultancy | £2,800 | £2,800 |
| 16 January 2026 | Office Costs | Service charge & ground Rent | Service Charges | £2,688 | £2,688 |
| 26 September 2025 | Office Costs | Service charge & ground Rent | Service Charge QE September 2025 | £2,688 | £2,688 |
| 26 September 2025 | Office Costs | Service charge & ground Rent | Service Charge QE December 2025 | £2,688 | £2,688 |
| 22 August 2025 | Staffing | Bought-in services | Administrative services | £2,682 | £2,682 |
| 13 June 2025 | Staffing | Bought-in services | Administrative services | £2,415 | £2,415 |
| 20 March 2026 | Staffing | Bought-in services | Professional & consultancy | £2,250 | £2,250 |
| 20 March 2026 | Staffing | Bought-in services | Professional & consultancy | £2,250 | £2,250 |
| 20 March 2026 | Staffing | Bought-in services | Professional & consultancy | £2,250 | £2,250 |
Claims refused and money repaid, 2025-26 to 2025-26
2 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £9,450 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 Pochin 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 Pochin’s register of interests and votes · Sources