False expense claims cost UK employers more than £1bn a year

UK employers are losing more than a £1bn annually from false expense claims, representing almost a quarter of the total paid out by companies, latest research has found.

A survey of more than 4.8 million expense sheets by employee expenses service provider, Global Expense, found that fraudulent expense claims account for about £350m, while £671m is paid to to employees for expenses not covered by company policy.

Employee claimed an average of £1,555 last year contributing to an estimated total of £5.8bn. Eight employees shared the highest claim of £24,000 for a week's training, while the purchase of 20 bibles, haircuts and even betting slip, were some of the slips logged in as expenses.

David Vine, managing director at GlobalExpense, warned that companies are throwing away money by failing to check claims.

"Not all out-of-policy expenses are phoney - it may be that an employee has overstepped the spending limit by £1 or failed to produce a valid receipt. But this is an area where public figures and working professionals can forget their ethics," he said.