As per a loyal reader:
"Intranet reply from Jon Thompson in his blog :..."We are upping the AA pay by at least 4% this coming year"Is this for real?
Why you may ask ??
Because the pay is so low in HMRC that the department is forced to pay an in-year increase to AA grade staff just to meet the same national minimum wage it is the department’s job to enforce."
I can't find an outside source?
Tax does have to be taxing.
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Its very real and very embarrasing when the enforcement arm for the National Minimum Wage is .... HMRC !!
ReplyDeleteThe same will happen again to those at the bottom of the AO payscale.
The useless melon has pulled out all the stops there hasn't he. How thoughtful. Just to comply with the law. Well, he doesn't want another trip to the PAC so soon.
ReplyDeleteHMRC violently bully staff, lie in legal proceedings, provide an absolutely appalling service to taxpayers, now we hear pay is so low for AAs that its being raised just to comply with the law...
ReplyDeleteWhen will these corrupt people ever learn? Never mind...will carry on eating all the pies...gobby, fat bastard.
It is 100% true....i read it on his own Intranet Blog comments section when someone asked him a question.
ReplyDeleteHe wasn't even asked about AA pay....but let the cat slip out of the bag as if he was handing out some wonderful Christmas present....senior management have no idea....we are being run by Keystone Cops ffs !!! Make it stop !!!
It might get him a knighthood or double helpings
DeleteBut that isn't the most important thing at the moment....that would be the people survey.....HO's running round like headless chickens trying to encourage their Band Os into forcing their staff to fill the people survey in.
ReplyDeleteThe results are irrelevant....it's the filling it in that counts....that gets the HO the tick they need on their engagement box.
People have to wake up to what is going on in the HMRC...the days have long gone that it is a tax collector....50% of our job is now about fluffy irrelevant engagement....it is a fucking disgrace....we are there to do real work...collect tax or help the public get their correct benefits.....but senior management won't allow us to do that...despicable !!
Let me hit you with a link....fair enough this is an old link....but this is what senior management are more interested in than the work we are really paid for : Read the comments...these are real civil servants who want to do a decent days work.
Deletecivilservice.blog.gov.uk/2015/10/14/a-four-step-guide-to-planning-your-development/
Indeed. And in there is clearly set out the real issue behind at keat one of the more destructive of the mindless box ticking exercises:
Deletehttps://civilservice.blog.gov.uk/2015/10/14/a-four-step-guide-to-planning-your-development/#comment-61976
These metrics matter because we can tick another set if boxes which prove we are complying with our obligations under the Equalities Act by treating everybody equally badly in terms if imposing an illusory, intrusive, demoralising and counter productive "development" culture.
How very fucking generous! Given that the AA grade is a dying breed in HMRC, and all those useful jobs they used to do now seems to be more befitting of Band O & HO grades that nobody knows what their proper jobs is! As those pleb AO grades are shackled to their snazzy new surface pros using shitty systems!
DeleteYou would think that he's paying the entire four percent out of his own arse pocket. True humanitarian eh...
Delete@12.53 Do NOT include HO's in your accusation. I have not asked my staff to complete the survey-it is up to them-and neither do I have to tick a box to show my engagement. And I wouldn't even if I had to.
DeleteDon't tar everyone with the same brush.
@20.35 You're very much the exception then as I've also witnessed HO's going round DM trying to force band O's to get their groups to fill in the survey. It's not the people here you should be having a go but your colleague's in the grade that are giving the rest of you a bad name.
DeleteBut then that's the problem, isn't it? Too many in grades they aren't capable in so they resort to being yes men (and women) even though Excom has said noone should be forced to complete the survey.
The sad thing now is that you could count on your hand how many decent band Os and above there are....the strange thing is that most of these grades have just capitulated to the HMRC party line....the ones that have any ounce of decency,humanity and commonsense are seen as weak and ostracised. We have a particularly odious HO who hasn't the balls to shovel their propoganda but gets the spineless band Os to force it on us...and the thing that is falling is the Band Os are robotic...they haven't the backbone to challenge anything or back up their own staff...it's a particularly nasty office I work in...it used not to be when we had a HO who was universally admired....not by higher management though...he had one fatal flaw....he had a humen side....so he was moved on....and in stepped the current dictator...God help us.
DeleteHO @ 20:35
DeleteYou want to do a swap with our HO? You would be welcomed with open arms.
Just 8 days to go until the close of "voluntary" people survey...and daily management are ratcheting up the pressure to fill it in...a low take up score makes management engagement look bad.
DeleteBetter raise a complaint to HMRC's HR...oh, hang on a minute...these are the corrupt drain on public resources who ensure victims of HMRC bullying are persecuted and the HMRC law-breakers get away with it...they set about with the aim of personal destruction of those complaining of bullying...their aim is to destroy the credibility and spirit of whistle-blower long before the possibility of anyone independent ever look at the sordid facts...they are complicit with senior management in creating the toxic culture...and these vile specimens sleep at night?
ReplyDeleteTotally agree. Seen cover ups for some horrendous behaviour. Most laughable was an 'independent' HR rep telling someone not to go ahead with a bullying complaint as 'it wouldn't do their career any good. Jon Thompson well done on overseeing a culture such as this.
DeleteThompson , as far as the majority of HMRCs workforce are concerned, has been poor.
ReplyDeleteHe was quick to take credit for a belated modification (removal of forced distribution ) in Performance Management. However, in his previous department MOD - he had sat back and turned a blind eye.
Now this mealy mouthed concession to AA'so - which otherwise would have meant that his department that is charged with enforcing those not paying minimum wage, would have broken it's own laws.
I can remember when Customs & Excise used to look after the lower grades.Not any more. There used to be a team spirit, a real community feel about working for Customs. This disappeared years ago.It's worse than sad - it's tragic as I've seen decent people treated very badly.
An officer role had a lot of the more interesting work.One was allowed to apply some initiative and discretion. No longer.
Whilst we certainly knew who the managers were, we did respect them and they treated us like adults and respected us. Not any more.
It's about "leadership" from people that couldnthey lead their way out of a wet paper bag. Full of yes men.If they get into proper work - it's all doing more with less, focusing on the bottom line. That means doing things cheap and going after low hanging fruit.
As the management are over promoted - they are fearful. To hide their fear- they bully. The bullying goes unchallenged, unpunished. In the end the bullies don't know that they are bullying.
A shocking state of affairs.
When Brexit goes badly in March, when Making Tax Digital goes wrong, when Regional Centres can't recru it and retain there will be blood on the carpet but the real culprits won't be around to face the music.
Sadly the above post is right on the money...an atmosphere of toxicity hangs in the air with management homing in on the weakest with 2 options....become a lackey (firelighter/engagement rep/odp champion/digital ambassador) what ridiculous titles !!
DeleteAnd if you don't...your reward : A Must Improve.
Just double checked with an AA in our office that the 4% rise was correct...yep...HMRC AA pay is so low that by law they have to up it....and as the AO pay scales are going the same way,they will soon have to up our wages by the same....absolutely disgusting !!
ReplyDeleteHMRC are aware that if the pay cap continues which in reality it is.... it is likely that in the near future the minimum of the AO pay scale would be at a level where annual supplementary increases would be required to keep up with HMRC’s legal obligations to conform to the statutory National Living Wage...they have had to implement this with band AA...how disgustingly ironic that the department that runs the national minimum wage pays some of its staff just that.... despicable.
ReplyDelete