MPs’ pay and office costs: what the figures mean

Salary is a separate figure

IPSA determines the basic salary of MPs and publishes its decisions. For the financial year beginning 1 April 2026, IPSA announced a basic annual MP salary of £98,599. That is a dated annual rate, not the amount of a specific claim on the business-costs pages. MPs can also hold roles or receive other payments under separate arrangements. Check the source and period before adding any figure to another.

A salary describes remuneration for the office of MP. An office rent payment, a staff wage and a travel reimbursement serve different purposes and follow different rules. A total labelled ‘MP costs’ can be much larger than the salary because it can include employing staff and maintaining an office that handles constituents’ enquiries. Describing all such spending as personal expenses would give readers the wrong picture.

What IPSA funds

IPSA’s Funding Scheme sets out the costs MPs can claim or have paid to support their parliamentary functions. Categories include staffing, office costs, travel and accommodation where eligible. The scheme and its limits can change between financial years. Read the scheme applicable to the year of a transaction rather than treating a present-day rule as if it always applied.

A budget is an upper funding allowance for a category, not proof that the full amount was used. A claim is a transaction submitted or paid under the scheme. An annual total adds transactions over a defined period, but may be grouped under categories that do not match an individual line in a two-month release. A staffing figure can include wages and employment costs for several people. The public data should be read with the categories and explanatory notes IPSA supplies.

Dates and release delays

IPSA’s reporting year runs from 1 April to 31 March. Its individual business-cost data is published in releases, while annual publications give a year-level view. The date a supplier provided something, the period covered, the date IPSA processed a claim and the date the public file appeared need not be the same. The site shows its source and retrieval dates so that a recent-looking payment is not assumed to describe an event from the day you opened the page.

IPSA said in a July 2026 publication note that it generally publishes staffing and business-cost details every two months, often four to five months after processing. That delay means the absence of a recently incurred item is not evidence that no cost exists. A later release can also correct or add an older line. Compare like with like: the same financial year, category and publication type.

How to examine an MP’s page

Start with the financial year shown in the costs section. Open the official IPSA source for any figure you want to cite. Check whether the row is an individual business cost, an annual budget or an annual spending total. The site groups some records to help navigation, but an aggregate can conceal adjustments and different kinds of spending. If a total and a set of visible rows differ, do not assume an error until you have compared the same coverage and processing dates.

Next look at the category and description. A payment to a supplier for office services is not the same as a reimbursement for an MP’s personal expenditure. A negative adjustment may be a refund or correction rather than negative activity. IPSA’s records and the Funding Scheme are the authoritative sources for what the published fields mean. Westminster Radar links back to them; it does not decide whether a claim complied with the rules.

Comparisons and limits

An MP with a larger or more geographically dispersed constituency may have different office, travel or accommodation needs from another. Staffing arrangements also vary. Comparing raw annual totals without the relevant budgets, category breakdown, payment dates and job requirements can mislead. A total does not establish quality of service, how many constituents were helped, or whether a claim was proper or improper.

IPSA also publishes other annual information, including salary data and some staffing or payment details, but those datasets have different scopes. A row can appear in one release and not another because the collection purpose differs. Use the annual publications to understand a year-level total, the individual file to examine a transaction, and the Funding Scheme for the applicable rules. If a field has not yet been imported here, the official IPSA download remains the best source.

Questions to ask before sharing a total

Is the number a salary, a budget limit, an individual transaction or annual spending? Which financial year does it cover? Does the category include staff wages, office rent or a payment made on behalf of the office? Was it a claimed amount, an approved payment or an adjustment? These distinctions matter more than the size of the number in isolation. The same MP can have a current-year budget and a previous-year published total on different pages at the same time. If you compare two MPs, first match the years, source files and categories, then explain the differences in workload and geography that a raw number cannot measure. Check IPSA’s notes for any publication lag or revision. Westminster Radar is a search and context layer; the IPSA files and Funding Scheme remain the evidence for the classification and the applicable funding rules.

Official sources

• IPSA: MPs’ staffing and business costs
• IPSA: annual budgets, costs and claims
• IPSA: the Funding Scheme for MPs
• IPSA: MPs’ pay decision for 2026–27

Explore the records

• Find an MP’s published costs
• How records are sourced