There will be "lightening (or is it lightning?;)) walkouts" (lasting 30 minutes) by 20,000 tax officers today in protest against plans to use private companies to perform certain HMRC tasks.
Two private companies will run year long call handling trials at tax credit contact centres in Lillyhall in Cumbria, and Bathgate in Scotland.
PCS are of the view that this is the backdoor to privatisation.
HMRC claim that they are using the trials to see the costs and benefits of using additional capacity from the private sector, not as a basis for replacing HMRC staff.
Tax does have to be taxing.
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I don't think many HMRC 'Customers' noticed much difference when most of them walked out at the end of last November so I hope this tiny group enjoy their extended tea breaks.
ReplyDeleteSome of us didn't bother to do this as we thought it was a stupid waste of time.
ReplyDelete"PCS are of the view that this is the backdoor to privatisation".
ReplyDeleteThe management will be shaking in their boots.
30 minutes of our flexi made no difference as 90% of staff don't deal with the public face to face or over the phone. It was a waste of time and the same thing is supposed to happen on the 31st. The Government cuts our jobs to save money but pay consultancy firms several years of my salary for a few months "work". This is taxpayer money being wasted, and if/when the private sector start answering our calls, expect them to make mistakes. Learning this job takes a fair while (years) and you often pick up new things weekly. As for the confidentiality aspect, lets hope the private sector doesn't use people of the street, agency staff etc on a part time basis... confidentiality will mean nothing to them.
ReplyDeleteAlso - Dame Lesley Strathey. Not everyone's cup of tea, but RIP all the same.
I used my extended tea break to get my bowler hat re-bowdlerised so I could present a clean version of what I would like to say to the customer that held so much contempt for me that one wonders why they'd even bother to phone the contact centre in the first place.
ReplyDeleteThe relationship that the ConsLabracat government has with private industry is the equivalent of private industries/government being able to give themselves a blow-job in public.
ReplyDeleteIn other words, great for them, disgusting for anyone else who happens to be watching it happen.
You voted for this by the way.
Like the people who voted Labour voted for a merging of two departments, hundreds of job losses and office closures then?
DeleteI didn't vote Labour, Lib Dem or Conservatives at the last two general elections.
DeletePS can someone explain why Kens blog has defaulted to PST?
ReplyDeleteIt's set to GMT from where I am sitting (I have just checked) anon?
DeleteThen do you not find it odd that you are receiving comments to your blog posts with timestamps that may be a few hours previous to the time the time that you posted?
DeleteDon't worry too much - somewhere along the line HMRC will have had something to do with it.
PST = A timezone within the United States. I forgot that people on HMRCisShite who aren't HMRC staff need things explained in nannying detail to them so they don't confuse their little heads.
ReplyDelete"lightening walkouts" - what?...are they all going on a diet?? Oh...they must mean "lightning walkouts".
ReplyDeleteHey smart arse - the question was not what is PST but WHY the switch? If you are going to be clever - get it right.
ReplyDeleteErr, numbnuts. The person clarifying what PST is obviously knew that they didn't need to clarify PST to the person who asked the question of Ken about PST. Why would anyone use an abbreviation in its proper context without prior knowledge of what it stands for?
DeleteWith simpletons like you in the private sector no wonder the countries economy is going tits up.
Just heard Dame Lesley Strathey has died, well that will save the country a few quid on her pension then!
ReplyDelete