HMRC's plans to save £11.5BN by transforming itself into a model of public sector efficiency have taken a few knocks, both from within and without; not least because they do not seem to be working.Francesca Lagerberg, partner at Grant Thornton, described HMRC's transformation programme as a 'monster' of a project and said its managers need breathing space to make the changes.
"The HMRC has already begun the long process of bringing themselves into the modern age.
It's a bit like turning round a tanker. It takes time."
Fair comment.
However, do those in charge of HMRC have the brains to realise that their line managers may need to some breathing space to bed things down?
With regards to tankers, we all remember the Torrey Canyon.
There are many HMRC employees who visit this site. My question to you is this, are the transformation plans working?
Tax does have to be taxing.
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"
The "transformation" is most defintitely NOT working. There are no professionally-trained/professionally-qualified managers within the organ that is HMRC. The so-called managers in post are consequently complete amateurs with perhaps a bit of in-house training and experience (so they have no concept of how to run a genuine, efficient business that operates in the real world). There is no motivation or incentive to perform (other than "to not be bullied" if you toe-the-line and do not rock the boat). None of this is a rant. All these comments are facts that can be evidenced from the department's own records and official staff surveys, ie if the facts and figures are not already in the public domain then they are disclosable by HMRC on receipt of the appropriate request submitted under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI).
ReplyDeleteBasically the organ needs an entrepreneur-style of leader, eg the late (although maybe not so great) Robert Maxwell to kick ass and sharpen up its act.
Gordon Brown needs to know what is really happening in HMRC. E-mail your comments and feedback to:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.number10.gov.uk/output/page821.asp
Adam Hart-Davis was right; you cannot slam two large organs together and force them to work as one. And look what happned there; for voicing an honest opinion that HMRC did not wish to hear, HMRC dispensed with the services of Mr Hart-Davis.
ReplyDeleteHMRC is doomed... we all of us are doomed!!!
ReplyDeleteI've worked for the Inland Revenue and now HMRC for 23 years and I can tell you that it's not working and the knee jerk changes brought in to paper over the massive cracks will never work.
ReplyDeleteWith this merger this Govt has destroyed two Departments that despite not being perfect actually worked and was reasonable at what they did.
Now the whole sorry mess is grinding to a halt no matter what spin is being touted by Ex-Com,I pray for the day i can retire and get out,
It's sad because there are still people like me who work there who are trying to serve the public but it's past a joke now.
I used to be proud to call myself an "Officer of Customs and Excise", and I'm sure that my Inland Revenue colleagues justifiable felt the same about their organisation. The department in those days was far from perfect and made many mistakes: but at least it tried honestly to collect taxes and serve the public, warts and all. The current bastardized version is a total abhorrence, being there simply to serve management's insatiable desire and hunger for spreadsheets and targets. I am now thoroughly ashamed of having any connection with this gangster outfit - but hey, the mortgage has to paid somehow!
ReplyDeleteI wish I could be the employee to make positive comments about the merger and subsequent chaos, but I can't. As with one of the previous comments, I was once proud to be a Customs and Excise Officer, feeling I was making a useful contribution to the countries coffers and to protecting my home island from smuggling of drugs and other unwanted stuff.
ReplyDeleteI became an investigation officer and worked on some major cases, both in excise and drugs and was happy to be working with colleagues all prepared to go that extra mile to get the job done. I'm sure my new colleagues who were once IR were also proud and motivated. Now all we seem to have is utterly clueless management who are only interested in clambering up the greasy pole and avoiding making decisions. Change is often painful (I have seen plenty of it in the past 30 years) but it only becomes unbearable when it is for its own sake. The two organisations should be demerged as soon as possible. Put the remains of the intelligence and investigation arms with the border agency and the VAT control with a new HM Revenue. This should have been done in the first place. My suspicion is that the then IR mandarins (NOT the actual workers) looked jealously at Customs powers of arrest and investigation and wheedled Gordon Brown into a stupid merger in order to get them. But maybe I'm just an old cynic. Lets face, the whole civil service is in crisis. Home office is unfit for purpose, SOCA seem to blunder from mess to mess, we can't do anything without it having "direct tax implications" and the police are just trying to hold the fort. Roll on retirement.