Friday 10 September 2010

Melting Point


The BBC have broadcast and interview on Radio 4's Today with a serving tax inspector at HMRC (he has spent 10 years there).

Quote:

"HMRC hasn't been fit for purpose for a very long time.

It's is now at melting point.

We don't have the staff we need, we don't have the resources we need and the computer systems we use are atrocious
."

You can listen to the interview here BBC.

Tax does have to be taxing.

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39 comments:

  1. What is really needed is people who have recently left HMRC to speak out under their real name.

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  2. Parliament finally seems to be on the case. I cant wait for Leslie Strathies next outing in front of the scrutiny committee. Some reports have MPs asking for resignation in ExCom (fat chance of that).

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  3. Parliament finally seems to be on the case. I cant wait for Leslie Strathies next outing in front of the scrutiny committee. Some reports have MPs asking for resignation in ExCom (fat chance of that).

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  4. Resignation would be an insult to the staff and tax payers, Strathie and her muckers should be sacked.

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  5. She would only go somewhere else and cock that up. She should be made to stay and sort out the mess that David Varney (sorry SIR David) started and his successors have continued.

    Oh - by the way where is the invisible man in all this? Wasn't there someone called Mike Clasper up there with the other goons? I seem to remember he had a Vision. It's a shame he didn't have the vision to see all this coming

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  6. All of us within HMRC know what will happen now. Instead of concentrating efforts on putting things right, thousands of man-hours (can I still use that term?) will be expended on trying to find out who the interviewee was, with a view to removing her for "bringing HMRC into disrepute".

    And the trouble with getting rid of those currently in/on ExComm is that they'd be replaced either by the same type of private-sector know-nothing as 'Reg' Varney, or by members of the tier of management just below it who have got where they are by ring-kissing.

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  7. They will never get rid of she who brought HMRC into disrepute. Nobody else would have Dame Leslie.

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  8. Oh - by the way where is the invisible man in all this? Wasn't there someone called Mike Clasper up there with the other goons? I seem to remember he had a Vision. It's a shame he didn't have the vision to see all this coming

    Clasper moved to itv last year so he is involved in two companies who were once the pride of the country but are now a laughing stock and clinging onto their existence by their fingertips.

    http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/975131/Mike-Clasper-replacing-Crosby-ITVs-independent-director/?DCMP=ILC-SEARCH

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  9. So has MC left HMRC then?

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  10. I agree with 10 September 2010 14:57.

    You need Parliament to nail these muppets.

    Customs and The Inland Revenue were once two venerable departments but have beeen destroyed by these idiots. The public and staff have been shit upon from a great height.
    Hartnetts been up at the Committee before so get Strathie up next.

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  11. That didn't seem to do anything to Hartnett's arrogance:

    "Tax boss: 'No need to apologise'"

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11265400

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  12. No one would believe him if he did apologise.

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  13. My experience of dealing with HMRC about tax I owe might give heart to those who have also had P800 letters.

    I got a P800 calculaton telling me that I owed tax for the year 2008/2009 because I got a company car and fuel but my code was never altered. HR told me at the time that they would have to tell the Inland Revenue that I had the car and that my code would be altered. This never happened.

    When I got the letter I rang on the helpline number and they explained the reason wht I owed the back tax. I said that it this was the first thing I had heard about it and that they had ben a long time in telling me.

    The tax officer I spoke to said she would put me through to someone who might be able to help. I assume I was put through to a manager who said that the tax could not be written off because they had not had information in time to change my code. I told them what HR had said about sending in details at the time and the manager more or less said "OK then". She then asked me whether I thought my tax affairs had been in order and I told het that I had.

    To my amazement she then said taht I wouldn't hear any more about it.

    There were no problems except getting through in the firat place and everyone was very helpful. If in doubt ring is what I would say - it worked for me!

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  14. Dave still needs a hairbrush. He gives the impression that he doesn't care about the people he is speaking AT!

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  15. "I've read the papers, listened to the media and heard stories of HMRC blunder and IT failure – neither of those are true"

    Is this guy on the same planet as the rest of us?

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  16. Just heard Hartnett's piece on News 24.

    I really can't see how these people are still in employment. What do the Government think that attitude say about the people that (supposedly) run HMRC !

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  17. When you start showing complete contempt towards your "Customers" you need to stop and take a hard look at yourself and the organisation you are heading up. He like others in HMRC seem to be untouchable for some reason and I for one will be asking my local mp this week to explain why this is.

    To the poster at 11 September 2010 08:40. I am pleased to hear that you got sorted out and hope you are the first of many.

    On a separate point:
    I see there was a statement made by number 10 on the petitions site recently regarding bullying. I will also be writing to number 10 to ask how they can make such a a statement and at the same time allow bullying to take place within HMRC. As the partner of a call center employee I have seen at first hand the results of this and will be adding team leaders and ops managers names to the letter.

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  18. @ 11 September 2010 10:12

    You're right. He should have been more honest and said certain elements of the media have deliberately lied to further their own political agenda. Others just mislead people to make money.

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  19. I see that Dave Half-Twat (sorry Hartnett) has been quoted that he 'doesn't need to apologize' for the recent mess caused by the new PAYE system.

    What an arrogant, self-centered little prick!

    This mess is a direct consequence of savage cost cutting here at HMRC as well as the worst 'management' in the world.

    NO apology can make up for the train wreck that HMRC has become.

    It's been fuck up after fuck up for so long and with the spending review on the way, somehow I can't see things getting any better!

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  20. A major investigation needs to be launched into the merger of Customs and Excise and The Inland Revenue never mind Hartnett not simply saying sorry.

    Brown, Varney, Gray and others should be brought before an Iraq type committee and told to explain the total mess that they created and then apologise to the public and staff.

    You shouldnt just be allowed to piss off somewhere else in Whitehall or to the countryside as if you had nothing to do with it.

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  21. To 11 September 2010 12:37.

    The trouble is the public cannot be sure who to believe. We all know the media will pump up stories to sell more papres etc, but it is also fact that HMRC staff from the top to the bottom have also lied and mislead people over the recent problems.

    So I have to agree with 11 September 2010 13:48 in that there needs to be an investigation into the problems and those who are shown to have lied or mislead (at any level) should be dismissed at the very least.

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  22. I've posted before that the non reconciliation last year was not normal. The PAYE system had serious problems. Benefits in Kind, Married Couples Alliwance and Age Related Alliwance was not being processed correctly. On top of all this, we had half trained "Evening Shift" staff actually doing the coding without a clue about taxation! This years reconciliation of PAYE is not just a result of the database, but also adding to miscoding by half trained staff (I am not blaming them BTW) and then seeing how bad the results are. How Hartnett can say this is normal is beyond a joke!

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  23. To Sept 10 @ 19.24

    MC is still @ HMRC as well. 2 days a week...

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  24. 11 September 2010 15:09

    Are you claiming only the "evening shift" staff were issuing codes last year? Bollocks. And they would have used exactly the same coding tools as any other staff to calculate the codes so the result would be the same. Remember you were not allowed to use experience/knowledge to calculate codes for either 08/09 or 09/10. You had to go with the figure you were given.

    Finally - how is any of that relevant to the end of year reconciliation this year? You know that people were going to get over or underpayments just like they do every year.

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  25. Does anyone around here have a link to counts of under and over payments for the last 5 years?

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  26. U Turn.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11272622

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  27. Osborne told him, so he doesnt really mean it.

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  28. What 11 September 08:40 says is interesting. David Gauke has said that ESC A19 claims are unlikely to succeeed, but in this case the claim seems to have succeeded very easily; much more easily than those my clients have been involved in previously.

    Could this be an isolated case of a manager not being up to speed or a change of heart in the department?

    I shall be telling my clients to ring rather then write now.

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  29. Anonymous at 15.09

    So why was there no reconciliation last year? Was it pissibly that the system was not working? And if codes continued to be manually issued, wouldn't a knowledge of what codes should look like in "normal" circumstances be an advantage?

    At least Hartnett has apologised. All we now need is for the apologists for the car crash that is HMRC to see the wood for the trees. When was the last time something like this happened when COP was used? It was an ancient system, but at least it worked!

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  30. David Hartnett's performance yesterday is typical of the way HMRC has been managed since it came into existance. The management is arrogant, incompetent and knows little about tax. They have caused this situaton and the rock bottom morale in the department and all of then should go.

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  31. "The trouble is the public cannot be sure who to believe. We all know the media will pump up stories to sell more papres etc, but it is also fact that HMRC staff from the top to the bottom have also lied and mislead people over the recent problems."

    The staff at the bottom have not lied we have told the taxpayers the information that we were given by the managers. If the managers have lied then thats not our fault! In the CC all our calls are recorded and if we are heard to be telling any different or giving our own opinions then our jobs are on the line. We all have our own opinions on this mess but woah betide us if we say it aloud.

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  32. The staff at the bottom have not lied we have told the taxpayers the information that we were given by the managers.

    There was a discussion regarding this on another thread on this site. Telephone operators where told to tell the public the new PAYE system was working fine even when they knew it was not. This is lying in my book and if it is not in yours then I will leave this subject alone as we clearly have a different understanding of what lying is.

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  33. Just who is in charge Mike Clasper? Where is he? Leslie Strathie? one intranet message. Dave Harnett an embarrassing radio interview? Phil Pavitt? Daily Mail claims he is? Just who is running this department?

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  34. "Just who is in charge Mike Clasper? Where is he? Leslie Strathie? one intranet message. Dave Harnett an embarrassing radio interview? Phil Pavitt? Daily Mail claims he is? Just who is running this department?"

    That is something all of us in HMRC have been asking since it started.

    Hartnett seems to be becoming the fall guy in this. He is a tax boffin and should not have been promoted so high. He should be demoted a couple of notches and go back to his office to deal with tax - which is what he does best.

    Strathie and the invisible Clasper are the ones who were parachuted in as top managers and who have patently failed in their jobs. They should be disciplined and sacked.

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  35. It just looks like a bunch of highly paid execs trying to make a name for themselves with their ministerial masters (and failing at the moment).

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  36. "ministerial masters"

    Ministerial inferiors more like, same with the other inferiors in Parliament.

    It is because MP's don't know what they are doing, and don't have the courage to take tough decisions, that they have been so easy to fool and manipulate.

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  37. Its gonna get worse:

    ''I have got full confidence in HMRC's ability to ensure that these issues are dealt with appropriately under his leadership.''

    Danny Alexander.

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  38. Ministerial inferiors more like, same with the other inferiors in Parliament.

    Exactly the attitude that shows some people do not understand who they work for. Ministers decide on policy and HMRC just have to implement it.

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  39. It is quite funny to read about the PCS union being "incensed" about possible public sector staff cuts. They do nothing to sort out their members working conditions and then when they face loosing loads of members they suddenly care.

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