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, 2024-25

78 claims, £306,133 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.5£247,87881.0%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.48£27,7489.1%
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.9£17,4385.7%
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.16£13,0704.3%

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, 2024-25

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£239,677
Bought-in services3£4,936
Pooled staffing services1£3,265

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent1£5,505
Pooled staffing services1£3,265
Utilities2£3,093
Bought-in services2£3,067
Cleaning services1£2,638
Recruitment Services &Costs3£2,172

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent1£14,403
Council tax1£1,658
Utilities7£1,376

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail4£6,325
Mileage - car4£3,852
Parking3£1,452
Hotel - London1£1,238
Hotel - UK Not London1£163
Subsistence1£27

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£239,677£239,677
31 March 2025AccommodationRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£14,403£14,403
31 March 2025Office CostsRentAggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25£5,505£5,505
31 March 2025MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£5,354£5,354
23 May 2024StaffingPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Support Team (Liberal Democrat)£3,265£3,265
23 May 2024Office CostsPooled staffing servicesParliamentary Support Team (Liberal Democrat)£3,265£3,265
31 March 2025MP TravelMileage - carAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£2,860£2,860
31 March 2024StaffingBought-in servicesAdministrative services£2,752£2,752
31 March 2025Office CostsUtilitiesDual Fuel£2,749£2,749
31 March 2025Office CostsCleaning servicesOffice Cleaning from 01/04/24 to 31/03/25 (£4396.49 @ 60%) [200011782-347]£2,638£2,638
31 March 2025Office CostsLandline phone & internet - rental & usageLandline & internet package£2,127£2,127
28 April 2024AccommodationCouncil taxLONDON BOROUGH OF LAMB£1,658£1,658
31 March 2025Office CostsBought-in servicesAdministrative services£1,562£1,562
31 March 2025Office CostsBought-in servicesAdministrative services£1,505£1,505
31 March 2025MP TravelParkingAggregated figure for travel during 2024-25£1,414£1,414

Claims refused and money repaid, 2024-25

1 claim carries an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £515 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