MPs can expect a fresh attack on their reputations when the man assigned by Gordon Brown to audit their expenses publishes his final report.
MPs should repay £1.12m of their second home expenses, they have been told after an audit of past claims.
Sir Thomas Legg will criticise MPs for establishing a "culture of deference", making it difficult for officials to query or challenge their claims.
Sir Thomas Legg recommended that 390 MPs - more than half of those audited - should repay £1.3m after going over claims dating back to 2004.
About 350 MPs are expected to have been asked to repay claims totalling £1m.
Some MPs say the way Sir Thomas carried out the audit was "sloppy" and £180,000 was cut off the total after appeals.
But sources suggest Sir Thomas' methods will be called into question by the senior judge considering MPs' appeals.
Sir Thomas also said £800,000 has been repaid already - some voluntarily - in the months since the scandal broke.
More repayments
The highest amount recommended for repayment, following the appeals process, is £42,458 - which the BBC understands matches the repayment demanded of junior minister Barbara Follett.
Sir Thomas was asked at the height of the expenses furore last year to audit all claims for second homes made between 2004-2008.
WHAT MPs MUST REPAY 7 hotel stays: £4,000208 Mortgage/Rent payments: £208 £71112 food payments: £12,00030 Utilities bills: £10,00059 Council Tax/Rates bills: £35,00035 Telephone & telecoms: £23,00056 Cleaning: £105,00052 Service/Maintenance: £81,00024 Repairs / Insurance / Security: £73,000182 Other: £252,000Total: £1,305,000
It followed the revelation some MPs "flipped" the property they called their second home to maximise claims, as well as seeking taxpayers' cash to pay for things such as a duck house, garlic peelers and widescreen TVs.
She was paid a total of £34,776.30 from April 2004 to November 2008 for mobile security patrols at her second home and was paid £8,908.36 for six telephone lines at her second home between April 2004 and November 2008.
EXPENSES: THE STORY SO FAR MPs are allowed to claim expenses for running a second home but there was much uproar in May when receipts and details of claims were leaked to the Daily Telegraph.Among them were expensive TVs and furniture. MPs also claimed for more than one property by "flipping" the designated second home while over-claimed for mortgages or services. Many MPs have announced they will be standing down, some have already repaid claims in response to constituents' anger.Sir Thomas Legg was asked to audit all claims made between 2004 and 2008 - today we get his report and the totals he thinks MPs should repay. Separately, a consultation is under way on a new expenses system for MPs. class="" href="/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8301443.stm">Q&A: MPs' expenses row explained
Sir Thomas's review and report, which cost £1.16m, says the security patrols went beyond rules limiting claims to "basic security measures" and says the number of phone lines was "excessive".
The Legg report being published at 1000 GMT will list the amount each MP has been asked to pay back.
Three MPs were recommended to repay sums over £40,000 and 56 MPs were asked to repay between £5,000 and £40,000.
It is thought MPs will have until around the end of the month to repay the money - some have already done so voluntarily. If an MP refuses to pay they may have the sum docked from their salaries or allowances.
A further 182 were asked to repay between £1,000 and £5,000 and 149 MPs were asked to repay between £100 and £1,000.
Sir Thomas is expected to say in his report there was a "culture of deference" at the Commons Fees Office - the body which oversaw the widely criticised system - and MPs' claims were rarely challenged or refused.
MPs were given the option to appeal against Sir Thomas's recommendations and about 70 are known to have done so - 44 were successful in getting the demands either reduced or overturned.
Gordon Brown has urged MPs to pay up and said he would consider withdrawing the whip from those Labour MPs who did not comply with Sir Thomas Legg's judgement. Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said the audit did not go far enough and should be widened.
Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin - who Sir Thomas recommended should repay £63,250, after renting his second home from his sister in law - appealed and had the amount reduced by £27,000.
Conservative leader David Cameron said ahead of the report: "What is absolutely essential is that MPs pay back all this money that's been identified - those MPs who refuse to pay it back, they should have it taken off their salaries or their redundancy payments - that's got to happen."
'Positive side'
Over the years looked at by Sir Thomas, MPs were allowed to claim up to about £24,000 a year for the cost of having a second home - members need a home in their constituency and also one near Westminster where they must attend Parliament.
The judge who ruled on appeals, Sir Paul Kennedy, said each case had to be looked at "on its own merits".
Fresh appeal
In his report Sir Thomas criticised the "deeply flawed" expenses system for second homes adding: "In particular, the rules were vague, and MPs were themselves self-certifying as to the propriety of their use of the allowance.
The allowance covered claims for things such as mortgage interest, rent and also furnishings but there were no published limits placed on how much could be spent on particular items.
"Taken with the prevailing lack of transparency and the 'culture of deference', this meant that the [Commons] fees office's decisions lacked legitimacy; and many of them were in fact mistaken."
Instead MPs signed a declaration with each claim saying "I confirm that I incurred these costs wholly, exclusively and necessarily to enable me to stay overnight away from my only or main home for the purpose of performing my duties as a Member of Parliament".
He added: "The saga of MPs' expenses and freedom of information has been traumatic and painful. Public confidence has been damaged, and the scars will no doubt take time to heal.
SUCCESSFUL EXPENSES APPEALS Jeremy Browne (Lib Dem, Taunton) - £17,894.24 in mortgage interestAnn Cryer (Labour, Keighley) - a "substantial demand". But will repay £1,600 for household itemsPatrick Hall (Labour, Bedford) - £260 in parliamentary expensesMartyn Jones (Labour, Clwyd South) - £1,100 in rentRoger Gale (Tory, Thanet North) - £2,470 in rent and phone billsFrank Field (Labour, Birkenhead) - repayment reduced by £3,000David Clelland (Labour, Tyne Bridge) - undisclosed sumCharles Clarke (Labour, Norwich South) - £750 in mortgage paymentsBernard Jenkin (Tory, North Essex) - repayment reduced by about £27,000 class="" href="/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8311377.stm">Profile: Sir Thomas Legg
"But there is a positive side. In responding, our national institutions, including a free press, an independent judiciary and in the end the executive government, political parties and above all the House of Commons itself, are showing that, when things do go wrong, we have together the will and the means to put matters right, heal and reform the systems and the culture, and move forward."
Sir Thomas sent out initial letters to MPs in October detailing how much he thought should be repaid but many were annoyed that he chose to impose retrospective limits on claims that the Commons Fees office had allowed.
He says MPs should not have claimed more than £2,000 a year for cleaning and £1,000 a year for gardening.
Others were annoyed at mistakes in the audit - Lib Dem Norman Baker, who campaigned for more transparency on expenses, said it had been "sloppy". Tory MP Ann Widdecombe, who had one of the lowest second homes claims last year, told the BBC the audit team "kept getting the numbers wrong".
The Members' Estimate Committee - a body of MPs which traditionally oversees the rules on expenses and allowances - allowed MPs to appeal against Sir Thomas's ruling before his report was published.
In December they asked former Court of Appeal judge Sir Paul Kennedy to hear those appeals - and said those who were unsuccessful must pay up or face having their pay docked.
About 70 MPs are thought to have appealed and 19 contacted by the BBC said they had either won or had the amount they were asked to repay reduced.
Among them was Conservative Bernard Jenkin, who had been asked to repay £63,250 - the highest amount known - after renting his second home from his sister-in-law. This practice was banned in 2006. He has said his repayment has been reduced to £36,250.
Sir Thomas angered MPs by imposing retrospective limits on some claims
It is thought Sir Paul, who is also publishing his report into the appeals process, will question the way Sir Thomas retrospectively applied new rules.
Alongside Sir Thomas' report, a full list of repayments made since April 2009 - the month before the expenses scandal broke when details of claims made were published by the Daily Telegraph - will be released.
More details of expenses claims for 2008-9 and the first quarter of 2009-10 are also due to be published on Thursday.
Second homes claims for 2008-9 were published in December but Thursday's publication will include remaining expenses such as travel, communications and office allowances.
