MPs’ business costs

Tim Farron

IPSA paid £3,209,313 against 1,786 published rows for Tim Farron between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Westmorland and Lonsdale 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, 2013-14

112 claims, £187,210 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.15£136,58473.0%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.84£23,15712.4%
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.12£17,1609.2%
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.1£10,3105.5%

Every year in the register

Tim Farron’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2010-11 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
2010-11119£96,479£17,753£14,535£10,030£411£139,208
2011-12124£111,005£19,926£20,006£7,908£158,846
2012-13127£136,463£19,967£18,762£9,159£184,351
2013-14112£136,584£23,157£17,160£10,310£187,210
2014-1581£134,656£12,025£19,708£10,996£177,385
2015-1678£120,843£18,507£20,409£9,613£169,371
2016-17125£140,665£18,964£18,919£12,085£190,633
2017-18192£149,957£29,895£19,726£11,236£210,814
2018-1995£153,457£23,306£20,180£11,596£208,540
2019-2082£155,505£16,891£20,287£13,900£206,584
2020-21107£185,937£37,297£19,952£8,115£251,300
2021-22119£201,771£19,329£16,243£11,932£249,275
2022-23156£217,736£24,515£16,330£17,673£276,254
2023-24178£229,454£26,505£17,500£15,193£288,651
2024-2578£247,878£27,748£17,438£13,070£306,133
2025-2613£1,876£2,881£4,757

A year in which Tim Farron 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 typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£126,755
Pooled Services1£4,956
Professional Services (Staff.)3£4,799
Health and Welfare Costs2£45
Public Tr RAIL Int/Volntr - RT8£28

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Const Office Rent2£6,082
Professional Services2£3,145
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental13£2,532
Stationery Purchase26£2,296
Const Office Electricity1£1,991
Business Rates1£1,620

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Accommodation Rent12£17,160

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Aggregated Travel Costs1£10,310

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.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
31 March 2014StaffingPayrollTotal payroll costs for the 2013-14 year£126,755£126,755
31 March 2014TravelAggregated Travel CostsAggregated figure for travel during 2013-14£10,310£10,310
1 April 2013StaffingPooled ServicesPST£4,956£4,956
25 March 2014Office CostsConst Office Rentoffice costs march 2014£4,500£4,500
1 May 2013Office CostsProfessional ServicesPOLD£2,755£2,755
28 March 2014StaffingProfessional Services (Staff.)staffing assistance£2,399£2,399
25 March 2014Office CostsConst Office Electricityoffice costs march 2014£1,991£1,991
25 March 2014Office CostsConst Office Tel. Usage/Rentaloffice costs march 2014£1,812£1,812
30 July 2013Office CostsBusiness Ratesoffice rent and rates£1,620£1,620
31 March 2014Office CostsConst Office RentOffice rent Jan to March 2014£1,582£1,582
25 February 2014AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,430£1,430
24 January 2014AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,430£1,430
19 December 2013AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,430£1,430
25 November 2013AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,430£1,430
24 October 2013AccommodationAccommodation Rent£1,430£1,430

Claims refused and money repaid, 2013-14

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £95 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 Tim Farron 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 · Tim Farron’s register of interests and votes · Sources