HMRC is advising people that 31 July is the deadline for people to submit their Annual Declarations for tax credits, so that payments can continue after this month.
It has also warned of another rash of "phishing" emails from fraudsters that inform people that they are owed a tax rebate, then take the hapless victim to a fake HMRC website asking for credit or debit card details.
You have been warned!
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Of course, they may then ask for it all back because they've messed the number up later (years later).
ReplyDeleteA new tactic they seem to be employing for over payment issues is to wait until you've little chance of having the information and then asked of it.
Example 1; Told them for 7 years that we'd called the jokeline (sorry, helpline) and given them the info to which they said we hadn't.
After 7 years they then started to say that if we had WE had to provide the call records !!
Example 2; for 8 years we only communicated through out MP's office. He lost the last election and now they want us to prove the info HE gave through the MP's hotline!
They've waited until after all his records have been destroyed before asking for this, despite being told in every letter that we have passed everything through him...
The 103rd are a law unto themselves whether its dealing with the "customers" and their agents, or dealing with their own staff in various ways.
ReplyDeleteWhat the law says does not matter a hoot and they even ignore their own guidelines and rules.
Years of abuse have been recorded in the newspapers and satirical magazines as well as accountacy and current affairs magazines.
Trawl the web and you will be deluged with examples to support this contention.
Even the Treasury Select Committee appears to be getting the message with The Administrative Effectiveness of HMRC being reported on and HMIC certainly has, have a look at their reports on HMRC issues.
Then of course there is this site.
So, enough for the doubting Thomas' and the management toadies and Pacesetter evangelists, no I doubt it, but most people can see straight through them and their arguments.
What next I wonder, they have recently had to tell their managers to stick to the law and rules and be consistent so thats a start!
:)LOL
Pacesetter this problem and explain the solution if you can:-
ReplyDeleteHMRCISSHITE.
A possible solution.
ReplyDeleteTake out the O's, HO's and G6 & G7 grades.
Employ more SO's and make them technically qualified, pay them much more and make them run the business at Operational level.
Employ more clerical grades, train them to a much higher standard and pay them a lot more than the paltry sum they are currently paid, encourage them to be innovative and self directed within reasonable bounds, empower them and have a specific admin function kept seperate from the front facing staff i.e. 2 distinct work areas.
Make the top brass run a much tighter ship at Tactical level
and ensure the Strategic level is dealt with by a cadre ofcompetant people backed up by quality specialists.
Oh and BTW replace Pacesetter with something that works and doesn't cost so much - common sense and good management!
@22.21
ReplyDeleteWell there's another 80,000 unemployable to hit the dole queue.
To start with, your maths is wrong and you fail to appreciate the proposed solution - remove that which is not needed and replace and increase that which is.
ReplyDeleteWould it work? Don't know but it sure as hell ain't working now.
Are there 80.000 staff left out there, and what is wrong with getting rid of crap managers?
Wow, just seen BBC News, the 103rd made the headlines again, and it was worse than expected by the look of it.
ReplyDeleteThe Treasury Select Committee have obviously woken up to the fact that they have been lied to and gone for the jugular on this report!
"Millions of taxpayers are being let down...staff have little confidence in management...demoralised staff...too many job cuts...3 months to get a letter answered...50% of calls not answered,,,"
Read the report and be enlightened oh ye of little faith (managment toadies, pacesetter evangelicals and members of the Flat Earth Society)!
Keep the Faith, congratulations to Ken and his loyal supporters - you have been proved to be right.
What next - Knight of the Long Knaves? Mass falling upon swords?
Pacesetter for sale or free to a good home signs.
It was that bad they published it on a Saturday hoping it would go away - chances are it makes a few of the Sundays, those that are left that is!
Cue the Battle Hymn of The Republic please!
:) :) :) L & LOL!
Wow, just seen BBC News, the 103rd made the headlines again, and it was worse than expected by the look of it.
ReplyDeleteThe Treasury Select Committee have obviously woken up to the fact that they have been lied to and gone for the jugular on this report!
"Millions of taxpayers are being let down...staff have little confidence in management...demoralised staff...too many job cuts...3 months to get a letter answered...50% of calls not answered,,,"
Read the report and be enlightened oh ye of little faith (managment toadies, pacesetter evangelicals and members of the Flat Earth Society)!
Keep the Faith, congratulations to Ken and his loyal supporters - you have been proved to be right.
What next - Knight of the Long Knaves? Mass falling upon swords?
Pacesetter for sale or free to a good home signs.
It was that bad they published it on a Saturday hoping it would go away - chances are it makes a few of the Sundays, those that are left that is!
Cue the Battle Hymn of The Republic please!
:) :) :) L & LOL!
Just seen it at 09:00 on BBC, 3rd headline item.
ReplyDeleteWell done HMRC what price your vision now, as 20:49 said yesterday - Pacesetter your way out of this one!
Clasper apologises, couldnt put Hartnett up for that one, eh?
"...continuing problems undermining public confidence,,,".
That is perhaps the worst statement, as while nobody likes a tax system, the vast majority accept the need for one, but when there is no longer any confidence in it...
From the BBC - Mike Clasper said: "We are not happy with our performance in 2010."
ReplyDeleteWhat about 2009, 2008, 2007 etc?
He also said 2011 has been better, well I am afraid he is wrong again. The service has been shit this year as well.
Chin's up HMRC staff, the big guys are taking the flack for you today. Mind you shit tends to roll downhill.
HMRC hit new low for me!
ReplyDeleteOk, I posted at the top of the thread the problems I've been having with Tax Credits.
I've this morning had a letter that takes us into the area of farce !
For 8 years I've been communicating through my MP (to get a third check) who in turn talks to them through the MP's hotline.
The issue relates to 02/03 and 03/04.
The letter sates that they didn't record calls to the MP's hotline until 06! And as all my MP's own records have been destroyed now they can't use those either.
But the kickers is, they say it's still up to me to prove the information was given to them?
Can someone (anyone) that reads this forum from HMRC, or anyone with more intelligence than me please explain how I can prove calls I didn't make?
Or is this just a cynical move to ask for info they know is impossible to supply??
@30 July 2011 10:57
ReplyDeleteIf you have letters from you MP showing the details of the calls made and the results of the calls it may be worth seeking legal advice if HMRC will not accept the details.
I would hazzard a guess that the problem having now is based more on incompetence rather than anything more sinister.
I have my doubts to be honest.
ReplyDeleteI've told them that all info has gone through the MP in every letter for the last 7 years, but they've waited until its impossible to get this info and then asked for it (paranoid me!).
Its not just letters, I'd call his PA who'd pass the info through the hotline. So I have no way to confirm this.
I like the way all records are destroyed by an MP once they're no longer sitting, but no tell you until after its been done.
29 July 2011 22:21
ReplyDelete& 30 July 2011 07:18
The problem with your solution is
A) it costs money which the public are not willing to spend.
B) you are looking at it from the perspective of someone in CC/Cust ops. Adding more admin grades and removing all of the technical expertise from the areas dealing with compliance and collection would not help. There is more to HMRC than contact centres and not everyone at band O and above are managers.
@30 July 2011 12:43
ReplyDeleteAlthough I agree that the general public would not want to see more money spent on HMRC the reality is more money and more staff would not solve the problems.
I accept more telephone calls would get answered if there where more operators but the quality of the service would not get any better. Until the actual management of HMRC and it's systems are sorted out then things will just get worse.
The problem is HMRC believe that customers want to use the telephones and not have F2F.
ReplyDeleteIf a Child Benefit customers comes into the EC they have to use the telephone as EC's are not allowed Child Benefit access, Tax Credit Renewals again telephone only etc and management send a message out this week saying 80% of business int he EC's is done over the telephone that is because there is no option but the management make out it is the customer's choice. From end of August it is planned that no EC's will issue emergency payments anymore they will be sent by courier.
They have reduced some EC's to two three days a week but the staff are still there but doing PAYE work they should be open serving the customers but customers do not matter anymore.
It's fine when the contact centres cannot cope to say EC's will take the pressure off because as we all know they don't care about the EC's anymore. We are there now to do any shite no one else will do and customers come last productivity is priority.
Who remembers the former Excom of Customer Contact, Chris having to apologise last year after he admitted he barely mentioned EC's in any postings he put on the intranet and always talked about contact centres and he had to do an embarrassingly list of ten things EC's do well to try to make amends.
We were also told last year we have to think up ways to stop people coming in we must get everyone to use the telephone or internet i.e. we have to think of a way to lose our own jobs that's HMRC managements way of thinking.
How can you expect to do a decent job when the management want you to get rid of your own job?
The EC's are still there they should make use of them until PAYE improves and Tax Credits disappears they might get customer complaints down a bit but they too blind to see it.
Modern Britain in a nutshell. The Government and HMRC want your tax money but they are damned if they are going to provide a service to help you sort out your obligations and your entitlements. The state is retreating from the people and increasingly hiding behind a barrier of call centres etc so it does not have to engage directly with the great unwashed. Cant be long until people realise they will be getting a better service if the give their money to a local warlord rather than HMG.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest what has happened is that someone took a functioning organisation, cut it into little pieces, threw them up in the air, kept the bits that landed on a tiny cofee table, stirred that pile around a bit and got rid of everything else. Not surprisingly nothing works. And they only promote senior management who say everything is great and getting better. So the senior management are probably stupid or dishonest. And it matters because, whether you like it or not, you can't actualy run a country without money. And good luck running a tax system without technically trained staff (HO, SO G6 & G7). They are the only ones who know how tax actually works.
ReplyDeletesorry, there are some unfinished metaphors and spelling errors in my earlier post but it is honestly meant.
ReplyDelete"And good luck running a tax system without technically trained staff (HO, SO G6 & G7). They are the only ones who know how tax actually works."
ReplyDeleteIt's OK, hartnett can just call Vodafone for advice.
As someone who works for HMRC I found it very scary that earlier this week we were yet again reminded of our obligations about not talking to the press,making comments on websites etc, then this report hits the fan.although the report hits the nail on the head there are two bits in it that bother me.
ReplyDeleteBanging on about legislation being too complex,well HMRC don't make the laws MP's do, also about staff losses,who voted the cuts through? MP's yet again.
HMRC is the only Govt dept that has had cuts in it's funding every year since it commenced with the joining of IR and C&E.
Still it will be pacesetter/lean full steam ahead as management don't have a plan B so more of the same next year and the next and the next, happy days...
I think the question people want to know this morning is when are the following people going to be sacked or resign.
ReplyDeleteNon Executive-Clasper and the other 6 directors.
Executive-Strathie, Hartnett and the rest of that crew.
This bucket of shit has been ongoing since a select group of clowns in Whitehall decided to merge both of the old tax departments which a 4 year old could tell you has obviously failed.
The talk above about removing-retaining Officer, Higher Officer or Senior Officer grade is really ignoring the elephant in the room.
Can someone please step up to the plate and sort this Frank Spencer show out.
Thank you :)