We're All Going on a Summer Holiday - Not!

Whilst our "respected" MPs take a "well earned" summer break of several months, spare a thought for those working in HMRC who had hoped to be able to a take fortnight or so off this summer.

It would seem that, because of the massive amount of work generated by the current tax credit TV campaign, staff at HMRC centres across the country are overwhelmed and are being asked/paid to not take a summer break.

July is the deadline for tax credit renewals, as the current TV campaign has drummed into the heads of all of those hapless individuals who are forced to become involved with the tax credits system.

The backlog of claims is now so great, that HMRC "managers" are offering the 5000 HMRC employees involved with tax credits £100 to not take a summer break. I can't see that £100 would persuade many to give up their summer holiday.

Management claim that they need just 100 staff to give up their holiday's. However, staff say that the situation has been caused by the job cuts and that it will simply get worse.

Peter Lockhart, of the civil service union PCS, is quoted in the Express:

"This is a symptom of a lack of staff and highlights the madness of continuing with a programme of cuts."

An HMRC spokesman said:

"Demand for our phone service is higher than usual due to the successful marketing campaign. In order to meet this increased demand we have offered a £100 incentive to some staff to defer their leave."

This of course, if the media campaign had been properly planned, could have been predicted. As such, a well run organisation would have ensured that they had sufficient staff on hand during the holiday season to meet demand.

This of course is not a well run organisation, this is HMRC!

Tax does have to be taxing.

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