MPs’ business costs

Steve Darling

IPSA paid £256,536 against 302 published rows for Steve Darling between 2024-25 and 2025-26 as the member for Torbay 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, 2025-26

99 claims, £21,037 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.	1	£2,092	9.9%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	76	£16,908	80.4%
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	£1,637	7.8%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	1	£400	1.9%

Every year in the register

Steve Darling’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	203	£179,112	£26,156	£21,118	£9,113	—	£235,499
2025-26	99	£2,092	£16,908	£1,637	—	£400	£21,037

A year in which Steve Darling 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, 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Bought-in services	1	£2,092

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Advertising and contact cards	11	£5,093
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs	6	£2,704
Utilities	10	£2,385
Software & applications	2	£1,780
Business rates	9	£1,154
Venue hire, meetings & surgeries	11	£1,050

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Council tax	12	£1,102
Utilities	9	£535

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Removals	1	£400

Largest claims, 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
24 February 2026	Staffing	Bought-in services	Comms & Media	£2,092	£2,092
17 June 2025	Office Costs	Software & applications	ELECTED TECHNOLOGIES	£1,476	£1,476
4 March 2026	Office Costs	Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs	installation of fire safety equipment to constituency office	£936	£936
16 January 2026	Office Costs	Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs	Shop front replacement sign	£750	£750
18 February 2026	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	community magazine advert	£597	£597
16 December 2025	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	Community magazine advert	£597	£597
15 October 2025	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	Advert in community magazine	£597	£597
26 August 2025	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	advert in community magazine for Sept	£597	£597
20 June 2025	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	advert in community magazine for July	£597	£597
11 April 2025	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	advert in May community magazine	£597	£597
1 December 2025	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	AGA PRINT LTD	£548	£548
29 July 2025	Office Costs	Venue hire, meetings & surgeries	—	£500	£500
10 October 2025	Office Costs	Advertising and contact cards	AGA PRINT LTD	£460	£460
29 December 2025	Office Costs	Utilities	Electricity	£422	£422
28 January 2026	Office Costs	Utilities	Electricity	£418	£418

Claims refused and money repaid, 2025-26

4 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £928 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 Steve Darling 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 · Steve Darling’s register of interests and votes · Sources