MPs’ business costs

Stuart Anderson

IPSA paid £1,359,413 against 1,261 published rows for Stuart Anderson between 2019-20 and 2025-26 as the member for Wolverhampton South West BC, then South Shropshire 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, 2024-25

192 claims, £303,103 paid. The headings are IPSA’s own categories grouped; the categories inside each are named on the register page.

CategoryWhat it coversClaimsPaidShare
StaffingThe 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.2£212,50470.1%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.148£24,5538.1%
AccommodationThe 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.30£30,58210.1%
TravelJourneys 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.9£6,5052.1%
MiscellaneousClaims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.3£28,9609.6%

Every year in the register

Stuart Anderson’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2019-20 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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2019-2085£32,331£16,481£4,108£3,504£56,424
2020-21301£151,732£32,883£21,678£4,278£210,571
2021-22186£180,919£23,894£24,965£5,053£89£234,920
2022-23209£191,997£20,920£25,055£4,584£154£242,711
2023-24193£217,053£17,019£31,093£5,445£270,611
2024-25192£212,504£24,553£30,582£6,505£28,960£303,103
2025-2695£1,476£20,880£6,237£12,480£41,073

A year in which Stuart Anderson 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, 2024-25

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£210,789
Pooled staffing services1£1,715

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent1£9,043
Stationery & printing30£6,361
Equipment - purchase37£2,717
Utilities19£1,132
Bought-in services1£1,080
Software & applications18£1,065

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent1£24,103
Utilities19£3,366
Council tax10£3,112

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Mileage - car4£4,227
Rail3£1,343
Congestion charge & toll1£864
Railcard1£70

Miscellaneous

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Redundancy1£21,716
Payroll1£7,149
Removals1£95

Largest claims, 2024-25

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.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
31 March 2025StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year£210,789£210,789
31 March 2025AccommodationRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£24,103£24,103
31 March 2025MiscellaneousRedundancyStaff redundancy payments£21,716£21,716
31 March 2025Office CostsRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£9,043£9,043
31 March 2025MiscellaneousPayrollTotal other staff payroll costs for the 2024-25 year£7,149£7,149
31 March 2025MP TravelMileage - carAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£2,653£2,653
20 March 2025Office CostsStationery & printingBanner March 2025£1,766£1,766
16 August 2024StaffingPooled staffing servicesPolicy Research Unit (Conservative)£1,715£1,715
31 March 2025Staff TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£1,209£1,209
17 December 2024Office CostsBought-in servicesProfessional & consultancy£1,080£1,080
12 March 2025Office CostsStationery & printingPrinter ink£1,054£1,054
31 March 2025MP TravelCongestion charge & tollAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£864£864
31 October 2024Office CostsStationery & printingBanner November 2024£782£782
31 March 2025MP TravelMileage - carAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£765£765
15 December 2024Office CostsSoftware & applicationsOffice software annual charge£720£720

Claims refused and money repaid, 2024-25

2 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £56 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 Stuart Anderson 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 · Stuart Anderson’s register of interests and votes · Sources