Those of you who believe that HMRC security should remain "in house", and not privatised, may find the following online petition to be of interest.
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Stop plans for the Privatisation of Security within HMRC.
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"
it already has been in most places!
ReplyDeleteTwo points.
ReplyDelete1 - It's very important to clarify that this petition relates to the privatisation of security guarding responsibilities within HMRC, not security in general.
2 - The privatisation of security guarding within HMRC is generally regarded as a bad idea. Stories abound of the piss-poor service provided by numerous security companies.
Of particular interest is the fact that in a major HMRC building in London (details glossed over to protect the guilty) HMRC pays the equivalent of £12 an hour for security guarding. Once this wad of money has passed through the hands of Mapeley, Carillion and, finally, Pegasus, each company creaming off a frightening percentage, the security guards end up with a gross wage of only £6 per hour.
As a direct result, HMRC are left with security guards who not only don't give a monkey's arse whether they execute their responsibilities in an appropriate manner, but have been found actually asleep at their posts.
Outsourcing of security guarding to the lowest bidder is a monumentally bad idea.
For their faults - and they do exist - our current in-house security guards at least have some pride in their work and are more than competent at what they do.
But then again, due to Gordon Brown's expectations of year on year reductions in HMRC expenditure, why pay for quality when you can squeeze out a paltry sum for a handful of buffoons who can barely comprehend the English language, let alone detailed security protocols?
Surely given your low opinion of HMRC's managers, privatising the management of security guarding can't make it much worse, Ken! :)
ReplyDeleteRaise that issue with the person who started the petition.
ReplyDeleteIn typical HMRC fashion, it would seem that efforts by the PCS to promote their own petition to oppose the privatisation of in-house security has met with a mixed response. The petition appears to have been welcomed by management at some sites, and turned a "blind eye to" at others.
ReplyDeleteWhere the petition has been made available, the support for keeping security "in-house" has been overwhelming.
In contrast to this, requests from the PCS are now being flatly refused by management at other sites.
HMRC launched its new mission statement - "The Vision" recently.
Yet, corporate myopia would appear to be working flat-out to prevent staff from seeing what is really going on.