A London Specsavers employee has been suspended for 12 months after it was found he had submitted thousands of pounds in improper expenses claims over more than a decade.
Mark Fraser Edgar was a Partner, Director and Hearing Aid Dispenser at the Edgware Road branch of Specsavers when, between 2008 and 2021 he repeatedly submitted expense claims for personal items – including hotel stays, car tyres and taxi fares’. There was a potential liability of £77,215.72.
Mr Edgar worked as a registered hearing aid dispenser when he made the expense claims that were “both inappropriate and misleading”, a Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service (HCPTS) panel found. The panel found these claims were dishonest and “fell far below standards of probity which the public expected.”
With regard to the claim for tyres the Panel noted that the Mr Edgar’s explanation was that “…there was no harm in trying” as this appeared to be a new category of expense on the system for Directors and he assumed it would be rejected if it went against the policy.
Mobile phone contracts were also claimed as business expenses for family members who were not employed by the company. The panel noted that Edgar “was aware that he should not have been making the mobile phone claims for his family members.”
There was an allegation over claims for meals as business expenses with his romantic partner. However because they were also an employee of another Specsavers branch – this was found not proved. Mr Edgar explained that these would be work related meals and that during every meal he would have been surprised “if Specsavers didn’t come up” in their conversation.
Mr Edgar claims that the expensed hotel stays were needed after work during the Covid period to “prevent difficulties with his partner and their newborn baby”. But he agreed that he had decided to stay in a hotel for personal reasons and not because he needed to for business purposes.
The panel found that he also duplicated claims for items such as a fan heater (£64.48), which were submitted multiple times between 2016 and 2021. The panel noted, “It was likely that the Registrant was aware that he was submitting duplicate claims…The duplicated claims were made by the Registrant in an effort to maximise his income.”
He also expensed vouchers for personal use totalling around £45,000, which were misrepresented as staff incentives and listed on PAYE settlement agreements rather than as taxable income. The panel found that Edgar “intentionally concealed his actions and exploited the expenses system.” . It considered that he had been aware that he was not paying tax by receiving the money as expenses.
Mr Edgar admitted that he had intentionally concealed his actions and exploited the expenses system. The Tribunal found that Edgar’s misconduct amounted to serious professional misconduct. While it did not relate directly to patient care, the panel concluded it undermined fundamental tenets of honesty in the profession and “would be considered dishonest by the standards of ordinary decent people.”
Despite evidence of some insight and attempts at remediation. the panel found his understanding of the impact of his actions on public confidence incomplete. “The Panel was unable to exclude the risk of repetition to the necessary degree. Accordingly, the Panel found that the Registrant’s fitness to practise is currently impaired,” the report states.
In determining a sanction, he panel imposed a 12-month suspension, stating it would allow time for Edgar to further develop insight and remediate his misconduct. The panel took into account his good record – he had spent his entire career in audiology and had made a “significant contribution to it”. He currently had about 1000 patients, who relied on his business.
The panel concluded: “The proportionate sanction is to impose a suspension order for 1 year…Before its expiry, another panel will review the suspension order to consider whether the Registrant’s fitness to practise remains impaired, or whether he is safe to return to unrestricted practice.”
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