Friday 11 January 2013

Unfarkingbelieveable!



Yesterday's article about HMRC's £8 lever arch files appears to opened up a can of worms. My thanks to a loyal reader who posted this comment about a number of issues (including the cost of moving a PC from one desk to another, and health and safety issues):
"If, as I suspect, paper usage (wastage) has increased, then sustainability is a misnomer. They have to pay to have the damn stuff shredded, at which point they cease ownership, it then goes for recycling and processing and becomes recycled, at which point they pay over the odds, probably with no volume discount FFS!

It is all smoke and mirrors, its not their money so why should they worry about discounts etc?

Anyone asked how much it costs to move a PC from one desk to another? You might be surprised as well as disgusted.

get an FOI on Mapely non-adherence to H&S and fire regulations when it comes to buildings - more surprises. One of their largest buildings had firedoors that were so poor that the seals wouldn't stop smoke and heat to such an extent the Fire Brigade had to warn them twice and almost caused the building to be closed before remedial work was undertaken.

Other SNAFU's have included obstructing fire escape routes with boxes of files, whiteboards etc. and then moving the whiteboards to clear the obstruction but then finding they have now obstructed the fire extinguishers! Of course, an inanimate object like a whiteboard couldn't cause problems, could it? Yep, they were so dangerous because of the lack of space in a lot of offices that people were tripping over the wide legs. Solution, application of hazard marking sticky tape and retention of whiteboards!!!

Then there was the evacuation of a set of offices because of a suspect package in the post room, did they evacuate staff via nearest fire escape or safe secondary route, nope, they made the staff walk past the postroom, despite protestations from those that new the risks, not only did this put the staff at risk from immediate contamination, it also risked spreading the contamination to the outside world. Containment would have failed and the rest could have been history. Very luckily the package did not contain an airborne pathogen. Complaints were made, the management responsible still occupy the same positions. The opposition only has to be lucky once.

HMRC management are useless, and at times plain dangerous, nobody takes them to task so the situations continue. Ce'st La Vie
'"
Is HMRC really as badly run as this, or are these isolated "one off" issues?

Tax does have to be taxing.

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20 comments:

  1. Is this for real or has someone with a grudge made it up?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good to see CAM/Press Office on the case :)

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    2. There was an recently for a 'reputation manager' for HMRC on a six-figure salary. Press Office is not that proactive.

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    3. Reputation Manager!

      FFS you would need a miracle worker and wizard combined to improve HMRC's reputation. They don't come cheap and have their own reputations to worry about.

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    4. Quite an achievement for HMRC to win the Money Mail Wooden Spoon award for worst customer service. They even managed to beat off strong competition from the absolutely dire TalkTalk and Santander to walk off with the prize

      http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2259215/WOODEN-SPOON-AWARDS-You-branded-HMRCs-service-hopeless-tax-boss-Lin-Homer-wouldnt-collect-award.html

      No other government department came close.

      Nice to know my old employer are national champions at something even if is being absolutely useless.

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    5. LOFL, the Muppets would struggle to finish last in a 1 horse race.

      As for Lin Homer, I a comparison made to Vladimir Putin and her being his sibling. Not nice for Putin!

      I don't know what it will take to get this monolith back on the rails, but as an ex. employee all I can say is I am glad I am no longer part of it.

      Rot in hell Motherfeckers, it is the least you deserve.

      And yes, I know you know who I am, but it works both ways you know. LOFL x 2!

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  2. Ken, perhaps you and others should sponsor a soul searching govt e.petition and get this out well and truly in the open?

    There is a disconnected army of millions of "customers" out there, both internal & external in relation to HMRC who may now be ready to help join the dots.

    HMRC is one of the worst examples of the waste of taxpayers money in history, probably only exceeded by the MOD, and that's going some.

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  3. Refusal to accept the wooden spoon or be interviewed, wonder what else is waiting in there to see the light of day?

    Internal whistleblowing is obviously a waste of time and I imagine the back-up/failsafe ombudsman is about as much use as the proverbial chocolate teapot.

    Maybe the time has arrived to cleave open HMRC and examine the festering morass within. I am sure there are now enough MP's prepared to raise the issues in Parliament and seek a full inquiry, judicial or otherwise with evidence given on oath. Now that would be interesting and pave the way for a complete purge and return to core values and responsibilities.

    External whistleblowing awaits, it requires an umbrella under which to be collated, then the proverbial will hit the fan big time.

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    Replies
    1. Not much chance of external whistleblowing after the disgraceful way they treated the whistleblower that exposed the Goldman Sachs sweetheart deal. Who would risk it?

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    2. You will find that the Goldman Sachs has returned to work in Solicitor's Office. I saw him with my own eyes in Bush House. Not that it will encourage others to speak out but it's good for morale when you consider that he caused the departure of Hartnett and handled everything they threw at him. Very brave guy.

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    3. You better cross check your facts, mate. It's unheard of for a whistleblower to be allowed back into Whitehall, let alone such a high profile one that disclosed extremely damaging information. Even if the individual dept does not wield the big stick the Cabinet Office will.

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    4. If this particular whistleblower has been returned to the fold, which I also doubt, it must be part of a damage limitation exercise ahead of TSHTF.

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  4. What did they come in the overall line-up for staff surveys afterwards?

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  5. I am quite sure that I have seen Mr Mba several times in Bush House in the last few months. It may well be a damage limitation exercise as someone suggested but it is still is a very significant one, especially seeing as there is a lot more the public needs to know about what really goes on in HMRC 

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  6. Dunno, don't care anymore, makes no difference.

    Let us reflect upon this Big Society for a moment, the following would appear to break the law without fear of retribution;
    Bankers (managers)
    M.P.'s (managers)
    HMRC managers
    Media managers
    NHS/Trust managers
    Care managers
    Local Authority managers
    Global Entity managers
    Mission vision and values statement managers *

    So, you maybegin to see a common purpose, oops, denominator emerging and if you do then you may well be asking WTF the managers managers are doing. There aren't any sheeples, once you get to these heights on the dung heap its all for one and all for one! Money is no object when you dont actually pay for anything.

    The greatest lesson I learnt but forgot was never trust the banks, and as has been said before many people post WWII did not have bank accounts into the 80's - you can see why now with the benefit of hindsight!
    *
    Don't forget these are the twits that sold the rest of the managers that they needed such sayings as:-
    Protecting Society
    No One Tries Harder for Customers (Tesco)
    To refresh the world, To inspire moments of optimism and happiness, To create value and make a difference (Coca Cola)

    I can think of one, free of charge, and it goes like this:-

    No one cares less for the customer nor works harder to make the customers experience as painful as possible. HMRC! LOFL!

    Wooden spoon, my arse, they don't deserve being given the time of day!

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  7. Offshore Services Provider14 January 2013 at 03:28

    As mentioned previously, ad infinitum, ad nauseum, I am very happy with the confusion, low morale and high turnover of staff at HMRC as it means that those who both avoid and evade HMRC are much more likely to get away with it.

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  8. I work for HMRC and I can assure you the managers are useless, half of them have no idea how to do the job and will not listen to experienced staff. If staff raise issues they are told that they are being negative and get marked down in their appraisals; if taxpayers knew what really went on in HMRC there would be an uproar!

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    Replies
    1. All the talk of "Managers" in the NHS pushing targets ahead of customer care, and bullying of the underlings who have to live with it without whistleblowing, should surely ring very loud bells in the ears of front-line HMRC staff ! Only joined-up thinking can save this country.

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  9. So, it's 2014, What has changed? Well, Homer has a £20k bonus and still baffles both the PAC and Dear Old Amyas as @ the NAO.
    HMRC is still shite.
    PCS is still a damp squib.
    HMRC are equal worst with DfT for staff stress levels and Homer was the CEO for both.
    no change then?

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