In response to the political scandal about MP’s expense claims, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (ipsa) has been set up. IPSA will consist of 80 members of staff and is expected to cost £6.5 million every year. This is on top of the £1.5 million that has already been spent on audits and enquiries into the scandal.
To put this number into context, MP’s have been ordered to repay £1.2 million in expenses claimed since 2004, or £0.2 million per year. You can see all the facts and figures on the BBC.
By my (admittedly simplistic) maths it will cost £6.5 million every year to prevent £0.2 million of excessive expense claims, or £32.50 cost / £1 over-claim.
This leads me to two questions:
1. Exactly why do you need 80 people to manage an expense policy?
2. When is it politically correct to challenge political correctness?
Photo by Heidi Sandstrom. on Unsplash
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