Monday 30 June 2008

Rewarding Failure - The Gray Scale

Rewarding Failure - The Gray Scale
As is reasonably well known, the civil service has a grading structure which determines salary, pension, perks, etc etc.

However, as with all government orifices there are nuances etc that may not be so well known. Doubtless you will all recall the datagate fiasco of last year, where HMRC lost the data records of 25 million people and put their personal security at risk.

At that time Paul Gray, CEO of HMRC, was chosen to fall on his sword for this fark up and leave HMRC. Not that many tears were shed for him at the time, because he happily slipped into a new role in another part of the civil service (heaven forfend any senior member of the civil service should ever lose their job over something that they were responsible for!).

Within weeks, he had moved into the Cabinet Orifice where he led a project on 'developing civil servant skills' before his contract finally expired in December.

However, what was not revealed at the time was how much he was paid off for leaving HMRC. The payoff has now finally come to light.

How much do you think he got for leaving HMRC, after taking some of the responsibility for losing 25 million data sets?

Maestro, cue a role on the drums please!

Paul Gray received a payoff of........£400,000.

His salary when he was in HMRC was £200K per annum, so that means he got a two year pay off.

By the way, he has now also managed to negotiate a retirement package that will be officially revealed in the HMRC's annual report next month.

This particular civil service grade and pay scale shall henceforth be known as "The Gray Scale", applicable to all senior civil servants those who fail in their jobs.

HMRC: rewarding failure, punishing enterprise!

Tax does have to be taxing.

The New Statesman, Britain's leading political magazine is delighted to announce that HMRC Is Shite has been nominated for a New Media Award in the category of Campaign For Change. The campaign for change award will go to the individual or organisation that has most effectively influenced opinions and behaviour through the use of new media technology. The winner of this award will champion a cause and provide information and tools to instigate change.

The full press release can be downloaded here.

HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

6 comments:

  1. Was it really only equivalent to two year's annual taxed salary? Or was it put through as a redundancy payment, making £30k of it tax free? No employee NI either probably.

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  2. What a fucking joke....

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  3. YET IT WANTS DISABLED STAFF WHO ARE NOW UNABLE TO DO THEIR OLD JOB BECAUSE OF THE DISABILITY, TO START DOING THEIR OLD JOB AGAIN, KNOWING THAT THIS WILL LEAD AUTOMATICALLY TO PAIN AND DISTRESS, AND THUS ANOTHER EMPOLYMENT TRIBUNAL THAT THEY WILL LOSE.
    IF THIS WASNT HMRC YOU COULD PUT IT ON AT ANY COMEDY SHOW AND PEOPLE WOULD LAUGH THEIR HEADS OFF AT SUCH GROSS INCOMPETENCE

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  4. The AO responsible for the actual loss was promoted to O band and the O band who signed off the allegedly missing discs got HO. Congratulations chaps!

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    1. As a former Officer of Her Majesty's Customs and Excise, I can hardly recognise my former department now that it has been subsumed into the shambles of the amalgamated departments. I am told trhat the stagnant hand of the Inland Revenue is everywhere now, and my heart goes out to anyone now employed there.

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  5. Could have been a way to introduce tighter security measures by creating an incident then finding a solution

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