MPs’ business costs

Tom Tugendhat

IPSA paid £2,184,622 against 1,032 published rows for Tom Tugendhat between 2015-16 and 2025-26 as the member for Tonbridge and Malling CC, then Tonbridge 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, 2015-16 to 2025-26

1,032 claims, £2,184,622 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.	87	£1,661,992	76.1%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	706	£216,296	9.9%
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.	181	£235,338	10.8%
Travel	Journeys 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.	43	£37,269	1.7%
Starting up and winding up	The one-off costs of opening an office on election and of closing one on leaving. These fall in the years around a general election and are absent from the rest.	13	£5,989	0.3%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	2	£27,739	1.3%

Every year in the register

Tom Tugendhat’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2015-16 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	Starting up and winding up	Miscellaneous	Total
2015-16	67	£107,268	£11,436	£15,063	£2,728	£5,989	—	£142,484
2016-17	142	£134,516	£16,710	£5,426	£4,559	—	—	£161,212
2017-18	123	£125,448	£16,474	£23,264	£5,421	—	—	£170,606
2018-19	104	£136,070	£20,275	£23,017	£5,395	—	—	£184,757
2019-20	108	£155,112	£24,706	£26,227	£4,459	—	—	£210,505
2020-21	101	£176,600	£22,325	£20,975	£831	—	—	£220,732
2021-22	64	£189,908	£20,602	£25,375	—	—	£8,314	£244,199
2022-23	75	£201,694	£12,506	£28,800	£2,739	—	£19,425	£265,163
2023-24	87	£211,172	£25,975	£30,790	£6,192	—	—	£274,129
2024-25	99	£224,204	£24,770	£33,296	£4,943	—	—	£287,214
2025-26	62	—	£20,516	£3,105	—	—	—	£23,621

A year in which Tom Tugendhat 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, 2015-16 to 2025-26

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	10	£1,653,241
Pooled staffing services	3	£7,850
Public Tr RAIL Volunteer - RT	27	£636
Food & Drink Volunteer	30	£139
Public Tr UND Volunteer	13	£83
Public Tr RAIL Volunteer - SG	3	£30

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	49	£47,925
Business rates	13	£23,813
Const Office Rent	46	£20,599
Stationery & printing	142	£17,780
Software & applications	107	£17,078
Pooled staffing services	4	£12,857

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	51	£152,654
Accommodation Rent	25	£56,362
Council tax	27	£13,689
Council Tax	18	£5,156
Other Fuel	6	£2,874
Utilities	5	£1,512

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	4	£18,104
Rail	15	£13,074
Mileage - car	18	£5,663
Hotel - London	1	£166
Vehicle hire cost	2	£156
Hotel - UK Not London	1	£61

Starting up and winding up

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Office Furn Purch StartUp	6	£1,412
Internet Access Instal StartUp	1	£1,344
Recruitment StartUp	1	£1,250
Comp HW Purch StartUp	1	£1,141
Other Equipment Purch StartUp	1	£492
Office Consumables StartUp	2	£205

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	2	£27,739

Largest claims, 2015-16 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 March 2025	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year	£222,489	£222,489
31 March 2024	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year	£211,172	£211,172
31 March 2023	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year	£198,606	£198,606
31 March 2022	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£189,908	£189,908
31 March 2021	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2020-21 year	£173,553	£173,553
31 March 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£155,112	£155,112
31 March 2019	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year	£136,070	£136,070
31 March 2017	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year	£133,687	£133,687
31 March 2018	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year	£125,448	£125,448
31 March 2016	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year	£107,196	£107,196
31 March 2025	Accommodation	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2024-25	£30,004	£30,004
31 March 2022	Accommodation	Rent	Aggregated figure for this business cost and budget category in 2021-22	£25,375	£25,375
31 March 2023	Miscellaneous	Payroll	Total other staff payroll costs for the 2022-23 year	£19,425	£19,425
1 June 2015	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	Annual rent	£15,063	£15,063
31 March 2022	Miscellaneous	Payroll	Total other staff payroll costs for the 2021-22 year	£8,314	£8,314

Claims refused and money repaid, 2015-16 to 2025-26

8 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £1,763 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 Tom Tugendhat 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 · Tom Tugendhat’s register of interests and votes · Sources