YouGov study reveals attitudes towards minor corruption are changing despite scandal over MPs' expenses
Economic hardship is in danger of turning Britain into a nation of expenses fiddlers, according to a poll suggesting that a quarter of the workforce has claimed exaggerated reimbursement for mileage, taxis, meals and entertainment.
The proportion of people who confess to over-the-top expenses claims has climbed from 15% to 25% over the past 12 months. And attitudes towards minor corruption are softening following a short-lived burst of puritanism in the wake of the scandal over MPs' expenses.
The YouGov study for the accounts management firm GlobalExpense will reveal this week that 22% of the public judge it "acceptable" to overstate expenses by as much as a tenth ? up from 14% a year ago but still short of the 30% figure seen prior to revelations over politicians' spending on second homes, duck islands and moats.
"People are struggling with their mortgages, they're not getting pay rises, they're not getting bonuses they were expecting," said David Vine, chief executive of GlobalExpense. "There's a danger that people will wonder why they shouldn't get the money back elsewhere."
Top justifications offered for false expenses claims include complaints that mileage rates fail to cover the true cost of car journeys, which 34% of respondents considered a fair reason for inflated invoices. Others justify exaggeration by saying they work long hours without overtime, that they simply are not paid a fair salary or that bosses are fiddling expenses too.
"Expenses in public life haven't necessarily been curbed effectively and this is all about human perceptions of what other people get and what other people do," said Vine. The perception of business expenses have been damaged by bankers blowing large sums on champagne-soaked dinners and scandals such as irregularities behind the departure in August of Hewlett-Packard's chief executive, Mark Hurd, who was accused of passing off dinners with a female companion as business meals.
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