Benchmarking Redundancy Payments

I assume that "benchmarking" forms part and parcel of the daily ritual of the "improvement processes" being applied in HMRC?

Therefore it may prove helpful to staff who are being made redundant to know that (according to the Telegraph) HMRC paid out £18,603,327 in redundancy payments to 528 department staff last year.

That works out at an average of around £35K each.

As already noted by one loyal reader, Bernadette Kenny, who was the director-general for personal tax at HMRC, received a lump sum of £151,480 and an annual payment of £50,493 until 2016.

She has since started work as the chief executive at the Church of England Pensions Board, a job advertised as coming with a “competitive six-figure package”.

However, she was of course a "special case".

Civil servants are all equal, except some are more equal than others.

Tax does have to be taxing.

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Whither Kenny? III

Loyal readers will doubtless recall the "resignation" (or was it really sacking?) of Bernadette Kenny (Director General of Personal Tax) that was featured on this site in early November.

Well now, it seems that this story hasn't quite ended yet.

The FT reports that, "oddly enough", Kenny will not be leaving her post empty handed (even though she allegedly "resigned" of her own free will).

Kenny will, as from February 2011, start to draw down her HMRC £50K per annum pension (six years earlier than she would have normally been entitled to - worth an extra £300K to her).

My goodness, what a generous and decent employer HMRC is...if, that is, you are in the upper echelons of HMRC and know where the bodies are buried!

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

What is TAXWISE?

TAXWISE is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Taxwise

Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Whither Kenny? II

My thanks to the loyal reader who sent me a copy (see above) of Leslie Strathie's letter to HMRC staff about the departure of Bernadette Kenny (Director General of Personal Tax).

Stephen Banyard (Director of Business Customer Unit) takes over today, temporarily.

Strathie says that Kenny's full time post will be filled by "a competition" (Pin the tail on the donkey? Musical chairs?). I suspect that her note was written in haste, and that the "a" was a mistake.

Still, you never know:)

In the meantime, it seems that, Kenny will stay on for a "couple of months" to "transform" the department.

If Kenny really had "resigned" why shift her to another role for 2 months, why not simply let her stay in her current role until the term of her notice period expires?

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

What is TAXWISE?

TAXWISE is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Taxwise

Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"