Report: 2025 Expense Trends Revealed

Insights to help finance and accountants take control of workplace spend (finally!)

Analysing expense data from January 2024 and June 2025 submitted in Capture Expense, here’s a rare, large-scale view into how UK organisations are spending and where finance teams are being truly stretched! Over the 18 month period, we analysed:

in expense claims

expenses submitted

organisations

Finance teams today are expected to be strategic, agile, and data-driven, yet many are still bogged down by the everyday chaos of expense management. From vague justifications to late submissions and missing receipts, the reality of workplace spend often feels more reactive than refined. It’s no wonder why 70% of finance teams say real-time expense visibility is their top priority and 87% of CFOs are investing in expense automation to improve accuracy and compliance.

This report, based on 371,381 expense claims processed through Capture Expense between January 2024 and June 2025, offers a rare, large-scale view into how UK organisations are spending and where finance teams are being stretched. With over £60 million in claims analysed across 460 organisations, the data reveals not just what’s being expensed, but how expense behaviour reflects deeper operational and cultural patterns.

Whether it’s mileage-heavy manufacturing teams, entertainment-loving sales departments, or the rise of ESG and remote work reimbursements, the trends are clear: expense management is no longer a back-office chore. It’s a critical tool for financial control and visibility.

This report is designed to help finance professionals:

Decode the patterns behind workplace spend

Identify risk signals and policy blind spots

Explore how automation and insight can transform expense workflows

and yes, finally take control of workplace spend.

Expense data doesn’t just track costs; it reveals how organisations behave. From mileage to meals, the claims employees submit reflect operational realities, cultural norms, and sector-specific quirks. It’s a live feed of business behaviour including what people prioritise, how they interpret policy, and where spend habits start to form.

And when you zoom out, those habits become patterns that finance teams can use to shape smarter policies, spot inefficiencies, and even influence company culture.

The top five expense categories offer a snapshot of how work really happens. Mileage leads the pack; a clear sign that mobile teams, especially in manufacturing, are still clocking serious miles to keep operations moving. Fuel and travel subsistence follow, reinforcing that physical presence remains a business staple, even in a hybrid world.

Meals and drinks, while modest in spend, speak volumes about workplace culture, from coffee-fuelled client chats to fast-food fieldwork. And taxi claims round out the list, hinting at the pace and unpredictability of modern business life. For finance teams, these aren’t just line items, they’re behavioural breadcrumbs, pointing to where policy, process, and people intersect.

From unicorns to slow burns: what approval data reveals about business operation

Finance teams know the drill: vague justifications like ‘as discussed,’ missing or mismatched receipts, late submissions, and approval delays that stretch into weeks.

These aren’t isolated incidents; they’re recurring patterns across organisations of all sizes. And while formal rejection rates remain low, the hidden cost lies in the time spent chasing context, interpreting intent, and manually reviewing claims that could be resolved with clearer guidance and smarter systems.

The data tells a clear story. Of the 371,000 claims analysed, only 2.6% were approved immediately – the rest took days, weeks, or longer. Nearly 27% were approved after 30+ days, and 3.6% are still pending. These delays aren’t just workflow inefficiencies; they’re visibility gaps that impact forecasting, cash flow, and trust. Without timely approvals, finance teams lack a real-time view of spending, making it harder to forecast accurately or manage budgets proactively. Cash flow becomes unpredictable, and employees lose confidence in the system, especially when reimbursements drag on for weeks. To truly understand workplace spend, you have to look beyond the numbers because every expense tells a story. Here are just some of the trends we’ve identified that reflect culture, operations and priorities.

Travel is a decentralised business, logged one mile at a time. High volume mileage claims suggest field-based autonomy and a reliance on personal transport over pooled resources.

Leads non-London spend with £2.1m in claims. Regional business is thriving. This reflects a shift away from capital- centric operations, with finance teams needing visibility across distributed hubs.

Most visited merchant. £27.5K across 353 visits; convenience, proximity, and a lot of meal deals. This suggests a reliance on easy, low friction purchasing, often for ad hoc or last-minute needs.

£31.6K in coffee claims. Caffeine clearly fuels productivity and possibly diplomacy. These claims are small but frequent, hinting at a culture of informal meetings and on-the-go engagement.

Lower in spend, rich in meaning. Coffee runs, client lunches, and team bonding – all logged, all cultural. These claims reveal the social fabric of work: informal meetings, morale boosters, and the everyday rituals that keep teams connected.

From hybrid setups to field tools. These claims show where businesses are investing to keep teams productive. They reflect a shift toward decentralised IT provisioning where employees are trusted to source what they need, often with minimal oversight.

Fast food favourites amongst every team. When speed matters, convenience wins. These claims reflect the pace of modern work, where efficiency often trumps nutrition, and where policy may need to consider health and wellbeing alongside cost.

Be honest, how many of these have you spotted while squinting at a receipt and muttering “not again”? Not all patterns are harmless. When expense behaviour goes unchecked, it can quietly erode control. That’s where finance teams move from interpreting behaviour to managing risk.

Flexible hours, fast sprints, and a culture that doesn’t clock off at five. This points to high-performance, where productivity isn’t bound by schedules but where wellbeing and costs need closer attention.

Networking, events, and a touch of flair are all part of the job in hospitality marketing. These patterns suggest a sector where social capital is currency, and where policy may need to balance culture with compliance.

Relationship-building isn’t cheap but it’s clearly a strategic priority for financial services sales teams. These claims reflect a high-trust, high-autonomy environment where client engagementis both expected and enabled.

Receipts may be small, but the risks they carry aren’t. For finance teams, the real threat isn’t always fraud in its most obvious form – it’s the slow, silent erosion of control. Vague justifications, missing documentation, and inconsistent policy enforcement don’t just create admin headaches; they create compliance gaps.

These gaps are where risk hides: from audit failures and reputational damage to regulatory breaches that no one saw coming. A taxi claim with no trip details might seem harmless, but multiply that across hundreds of submissions and you’ve got a system that’s reactive, not resilient. And when finance teams are forced to chase context instead of enforcing clarity, fatigue sets in; not just operationally, but strategically. Because every unclear claim is a missed opportunity to strengthen policy, automate oversight, and protect the business.

Most employees don’t realise that vague claims or missing receipts can trigger HMRC scrutiny. While finance teams know the rules, everyday submitters often don’t – and that lack of awareness can lead to audit risks, repayment demands or rejected claims.

Clarity isn’t just helpful; it’s a legal safeguard.

Expense risk doesn’t always come with a red flag. Often, it’s buried in the everyday – vague notes, missing receipts, and cultural habits that clash with policy.

78% of rejected claims are due to vagueness or incomplete info: not fraud, just friction. These aren’t isolated errors; they’re signs of systemic gaps in policy enforcement and submission workflows. For finance teams, they represent a growing compliance risk and a daily drain on time, clarity, and audit readiness.

Entertainment spend is where company culture meets compliance and sometimes even collides with it. The data shows clear behavioural patterns across sectors:

• Financial services sales teams average £1,100 per head annually in entertainment spend — a sign that relationship-building is both expected and enabled.

• Hospitality marketing departments log 68% of entertainment claims with alcohol codes, suggesting a culture of event-driven networking.

• Employee entertainment venues like Flight Club and NQ64 show that team bonding is alive and well but not always clearly categorised.

This can raise questions such as:

• Are alcohol-heavy claims aligned with policy?

• Are employee events being logged correctly?

• Is spend consistent across departments?

For finance teams, this is where policy needs to be clear, and systems need to be smart enough to enforce it.

Not all risk comes from big-ticket anomalies. Many of the most persistent issues are buried in everyday patterns. Rejected claims due to late submissions, for example, are often due to unclear deadlines or lack of reminders. High-volume merchants (vendors that frequently appear in employee expense claims like Amazon and Premier Inn) show decentralised purchasing habits that, without proper tagging or policy controls, can blur the line between business and personal spend. And sector-specific behaviours, like alcohol-heavy claims in hospitality and marketing, or high entertainment spend in financial services, highlight the need for tailored policy enforcement.

These aren’t one-offs; they’re patterns. And they’re exactly what automation and smart prompts are designed to catch. After all the friction, fatigue, and hidden risks, it’s easy to see expense management as a burden. But it doesn’t have to be. The same data that reveals inefficiencies can also unlock smarter, more strategic ways of working if finance teams have the right tools.

Smarter spend isn’t just about fixing what’s broken; it’s about preparing for what’s next. As work patterns shift and sustainability climbs the agenda, finance teams are uniquely positioned to guide the business through change.

Hybrid work, for example, is redefining what ‘business spend’ looks like. 7% of companies now reimburse utilities and home office setups. A small but growing recognition that policies are evolving alongside modern work patterns. Meanwhile, ESG-related travel is under the microscope. Our data reveals that businesses logged:

**12.4M**

miles

£28.5M

spend

7M

miles

£4.45M

spend

1.16M

miles

£10.7M

spend

81,000

miles

£1.62M

spend

62,000

miles

£270,000

spend

These journeys equate to an estimated 5,175 tonnes of CO2 or 1,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools. For finance teams, this is a chance to align spend with sustainability goals, and to track carbon impact with the same rigour as cost.

**Get a copy of the stats, facts, and figured from the 2025 Expense Trends Report, straight to your inbox!**

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Expense management has long been treated as a tedious chore that no one wants to do; a tangle of receipts, vague justifications, and manual processes. But Capture Expense flips that narrative. It’s designed not just to process claims, but to solve the everyday friction that slows teams down and unlock smarter ways of working. Built with the end user in mind, the platform simplifies complex workflows, reduces admin fatigue, and gives organisations the tools to act on spend data; not just file it away.

And thanks to its built-in AI, Capture Expense doesn’t just automate tasks, it understands them. From interpreting natural language to auto-categorising claims and surfacing insights, it brings intelligence to every interaction. Whether it’s streamlining submissions, supporting ESG goals, or answering “when am I getting paid?” via WhatsApp, Capture Expense helps businesses move faster, stay compliant, and make better decisions with less effort.

Submit claims via app, WhatsApp, Slack, or Teams – wherever work happens. No more “I’ll do it when I’m back at my desk.”

Customisable workflows with real-time visibility keep things moving and keep accountability across departments.

Vague justifications, missing receipts, and late submissions are flagged before they hit your inbox, reducing risk and saving time.

Ask a question, get the answer. No pivot tables, no manual digging, no spreadsheets – just instant insight in the format you need it.

Real-time feeds and automatic matching with invoices make month-end smoother and audit prep less painful.

Mileage and travel claims come with built-in CO2 estimates, helping you align spend with sustainability goals.

See Capture Expense in action

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