The Public Accounts Committee has poured scorn on HMRC's "plans" to save more than £500m by condensing its sprawling office estate into just a handful of giant hubs.
PAC doesn't think that the 10-year scheme to reduce HMRC’s 170 offices to 13 regional bases in city centres, along with four specialist centres and a London headquarters will deliver the expected economies.
PAC also noted that closing down offices would damage local economies, with some offices being major employers in the areas.
The Telegraph quoted PAC:
"HMRC has yet to demonstrate it has a realistic and affordable plan to deliver such a radical change to its estate, and we do not believe that it needs to be based in expensive cities across the UK”.In other words the plans, if they exist, are shite!
PAC, for good measure, also warned about the effects on staff:
“It already experiences too high a level of staff turnover with 5,000 to 6,000 staff leaving a year and it will take time to recruit and train staff in new regional centres.”HMRC said that it will "consider" the report.
Snort!
Tax does have to be taxing.
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The PAC report is too little, too late and experience shows it will be ignored by HMRC anyway
ReplyDeleteThe offices have already closed and the jobs lost.
The HMRC attitude always seems to be its only taxpayers money.
Planning is not their strong point so wouldn't be surprised if there is no proper plan.
Look, when all is said, when bonuses and gongs are dished out by the establishment elite to HMRC Senior Management despite their record of failure its two fingers up to the little people and nothing is ever going to change until politically forced to do so, starting with an independent governance structure holding these overpaid elites to account.
Maybe if the Senior Management
...Maybe if the Senior Management HAD REAL WORLD EXPERIENCE OF BEING SELF EMPLOYED AND SAVING UP TO PAY A TAX BILL, THEY WOULD BE MORE RESPECTFUL WITH HOW THEY WASTE MONEY!!!
DeleteOf course it's shite. Anyone below the Executive Committee understood this from the beginning of "BOF".
ReplyDeleteNow it's too late the senior "rats" are jumping ship.
In private, the CEO has admitted that the whole BOF thing has been cocked up beyond all conscience. But too many offices have been closed, too many staff lost, for them to have any real room for backtracking now.
ReplyDeleteThis is a major story which the newspapers and media should investigate. The whole chaos has a indirect impact on local economies where the offices were located but even more seriously directly impacts on the appalling service provided to the public and money collected to the exchequer. I wonder what HMRC's Press Office would have to say about it?
DeleteThey'd deny everything. I have it on the authority of a senior PCS official who heard Thompson say it.
DeleteIts so much money down the drain there ought to be some thorough scrutiny of those Senior Managers, past and present, who made the decisions. We taxpayers are regulated by HMRC to the extent they would probably fine us for over claiming 1 paperclip in error. And they waste MILLIONS of our money. The media must investigate!!
DeleteSo here was the choice. Do we maintain our presence throughout the UK and save costs by sharing with other government departments. In areas where there is high unemployment and cheaper office rents or do we retreat to expensive shiny new office blocks in expensive cities where we will have difficulty recruiting and retaining staff? Who had the prospect of some personal gain from the latter choice.
ReplyDeleteSenior Management/Establishment Elites?? They do seem to like pulling up the ladder, no matter the dire consequences to everyone else.
DeleteHMRC SENIOR MANAGEMENT ARE BULLYING INCOMPETENT SCUM !!
ReplyDeleteThe problem is they have no conscience, morals, scruples, integrity etc. People can probably imagine the culture that flows down to more junior staff. No surprise then that the quality of 'work' produced by HMRC is consistently poor.
DeleteIf the senior management were subjected to the subjectively draconian, some may outright corrupt, appraisal system that junior staff are they probably wouldn't last many days in the job. There would be no six figure salaries collected, let alone bonuses & gongs.
One: This is a department that sold it's entire property portfolio to a company based in Bermuda and the expected savings of £500 million never materialised.
ReplyDeleteThe PAC did fuck all about that, so expect no action here.
Two: It does not matter that dedicated, experienced staff are leaving. The department is selecting regional centres on the basis of proximity to universities. People with degrees will FLOCK to the department because the university they got the degree from is around the corner. Under no circumstances should this logic be questioned.
Armed with their shiny new degrees in 17th Century French Poetry, they won't, obviously, want anything to do with taxpayers or tax, but hey, Admin/HR/Management/Diversity/Attendance Champion positions don't full themselves.
You'd be forgiven for not knowing what HMRC's real purpose is on entering the department nowadays (clue: collect tax). It all seems to be about unproductive talking shops and non-jobs such as talking about Leadership (they're ain't very good at it) and then there's the HR Department, Estates Department, Communications/Media Department, 'Diversity Department', 'Social Mobility Department'(disgustingly downward mobility appears to be their preferred version in action). People who are 'simply' hard working, decent, tax collectors are looked down upon by their employer - and could that be the root of all the failures?
DeleteSpot on.....the "R" should be taken out of HMRC...revenue collection is way,way down the pecking order....
DeleteCommunications is the specialism to go for. There are over 200 staff in this group. Many of them failed journalists. Ironically now we are in "purdah" they are not allowed to communicate. So what are they all doing?
DeleteI was reading an article about a UK businessman living in Cuba who was held in prison for over a year and released without charge.He noted the almost everyone,regardless of rank in the system had some fancy name incorporated in their title such as 'Commander' Captain' 'General' 'Leader'.
DeleteThe popular title at HMRC now is 'Champion', a Champion of this, a Champion of that. The are sprouting up all over the place, 'oh hello mate I see you're a Champion now, well done' Lots of 'Co-Ordinaters' and 'Planners' too. None of the roles seem to have anything to do with the core part of the job. Not even a remote connection.
You come into work with the walls of the corridors outside the office, and the walls inside the office covered in meaningless crap, pictures of Balloons, Kites,Boogeymen; all sorts of things.It's a cross between a Nursery and a home for the mentally unwell.
75% of those with power on the floors are Sleazebags, Double Crosses, Witches, Cockroaches and Pigs. Plenty of bullshitters too though in the main they are not looking to walk over you( though there are exceptions), they just bullshit themselves to fancy unaccountable positions.
Many reliable trustworthy staff have turned up everyday for work for many,many years. If they go they'll just get a standard reference. You are just a number.
If only this had been repeatedly pointed out to the powers that be and the whole shambles could've been avoided. Oh, wait...it was! Shame lip service was paid to it by the poisonous former CEO with her contemptuous attitude to the department's staff.
ReplyDeleteNo wonder people are leaving the department in droves - just desserts for the dreadful way people have been treated.
Never understood why she was made a Dame? I just though it looked like the establishment elite dishing out gongs to the establishment elite. What earned her such a high honour?
DeleteBy all accounts was a disaster at HMRC. Was a Disaster at Birmingham council... and yet made a dame. ?????????????
DeleteThe whole process of reorganisation is basically constructive dismissal as the organisation reduces numbers -staff in Portsmouth being given the choice in future of Stratford or Croydon, no offices south of Bristol etc -tax collection is a sideshow -i attended 3 "building our future events " and there were hardly any frontline staff , endless bullshit from HR etc.Iwas lucky enough to be able to afford to get out -31 years and 57 million tax collected
ReplyDeleteand subject to 17 "quality checks " because i spoke out and was thus disliked -tax take on interventions has dropped and will continue to do so as management pretend to be concerned, experienced staff will if possible get the hell out of a petty vindictive bullying organisation imposing an endless round of changes and virtually non existant pay rises -my take home in 2016 was £63 more than in 2018 ie 2.8 % increase -yep job security for sure with an organisation that treats the troops as crap
As a thankfully retired employee of HMRC I would have to endorse one of your earlier correspondents who said that the PAC report is a case of too little too late. This process has been going on for several years causing many experienced employees to leave ahead of time and there has been a drip drip drip of office closures all in the name of a supposedly more economic office structure.No consideration was given to the value of local presence and digital was supposedly going to solve everything.
ReplyDeleteI would also endorse the comments of those who say that the skills of tax gathering rank way below communication , the convoluted staff appraisal system which wastes enormous amounts of time and destroys morale.
Why has the PAC only woken up to the process now?
I've been told that 3 or maybe 4 new sites are locked down in terms of timescales, but all the others are all over the place. Has anyone else heard this?
ReplyDeleteAlso, about 5 years, as an SO was leaving, he told me that he'd been accidentally CC'd into an email conversation where the "bullying" of AA/AO and O's was being mooted as a genuine strategy towards "natural wastage". It's now that really seems to be coming true, certainly in my office.
Ken, do you think @ 01/05/17 11:32 should gather the evidence and pass to the media for investigation in the public interest? Totally unlawful and potentially criminal behaviour is described. Don't ever just sit on the issue and do nothing.
DeleteReg the bullying of AA/AO/O grades by HO or SO's or by O's on AA/AO's - I know many are sceptical about completing surveys but if the results show patterns where one department or cluster has a considerably higher number of staff claiming to be victimised then this can cause them problems. I would always complete these surveys and always appeal against an unfavourable end of year marking and follow up with a grievance. Even if unsuccessful you will probably be helping others. I know a few down the years who have been put through hell by higher ranks but that not taken any action, having instead just moved floor wanting to forget it all and start again. Though understandable it's allowing the perpetrators to flourish. Without trying to be sexist I tend to find those that bully often fit the profile of middle aged women whose husbands have left them and set up with someone else. Another group are those that have undergone a character change after personal tragedy - I know someone working in another area of the Civil Service who was taken to hell and back by a manageress, a previously pleasant individual, who turned into a monster after losing one of her children. Admittedly, the circumstances are very sad but the SO should have transferred that manager sideways to casework where people management would not be required.
ReplyDeleteCover-ups of bullying by HR & management allow the perpetrators to flourish too. Its why the problem becomes so entrenched in certain organisations. It could be deemed misconduct in public office.
DeleteTo give some of you a wee bit of perspective, my case plus the existence of probably an additional 80 or so instances related to the same indiviidual were made aware to the following;
ReplyDeletePCS
HMC&E/HMRC Grievance system (pathetic and likely to have covered up criminal behaviour and conspiracy)
Hartnett
Homer
Constituency M.P.
Margaret Hodge & Select Committee
NAO
TV & other media
Now, when a previous member of the Department with knowledge and experience of UK Law accuses management of civil and criminal lawbreaking to the above list, just what do you think is really being covered up? You need to look where these managers were working to have some idea of the potential consequences.
Good luck moving anything forward.
Oh tes, cybical me, I forgot, despite being off sick for a year with a repeat of long standing and evidenced serious helth issues (DDA & EQA) was not sacked or offerred ill-health retirement.
DeleteYou work it out!
Abuse in the workplace is no different to other forms of abuse which are recognised in law...the perpetrators have many similar characteristics and can be similarly described as cowardly disgusting little beasts. If one member of HMRC management was bullying in up to '80 or so instances' including the above case, and yet nothing was done about - for example: disciplinary, dismissal and forfeited pension - then something very corrupt is going on in a key law enforcement agency. The public need to be very aware.
DeleteYou need to be aware of who is in the various cliques and which cliques have bad history with other cliques. Lots of enmity and jealousy at junior and middle management level.If the real CUNTS pull one on you make sure you appeal and follow up with a grievance.Just ensure you keep yourself under control and for God's sake don't do anything that could be construed as Gross Misconduct.
DeleteApologies, reply was meant for 6 May 23:23 and 7 May 10:01.
DeleteThe department is unrecognizable from the one I joined 20 years ago. Some of the lower managers are plain nasty buggers. I am an old hand so can box clever but some less experienced staff work in a living hell. Drive out these incompetent monsters and the department will start to improve.
ReplyDeleteAgree above....the sad thing is these so called managers hone in on the easy targets to get their 10% needs development quota...it's shamefully disgusting.
ReplyDeleteIt's been said that the "must improve" quota (sorry, "guided distribution") is to be dropped from the PMR system in 2017/18.
ReplyDeleteMakes you wonder how they will now try to make the system even more unpopular and more difficult for staff to complete. Absolute shower of clueless fuckwits by the sound of it.