If At First You Don't Succeed

As I noted last week, both HMRC and the ICAEW were cock-a-hoop with themselves over Lin Homer's statement (delivered with a loud fanfare) that HMRC may be "investing up to" £34M and may be placing "up to" another 1,000 staff in HMRC's beleaguered call centres:

"HMRC have with great fanfare and naive approval of the ICAEW attempted some diversionary tactics by announcing a reallocation (HMRC calls it "investment") of "up to" £34M and a possible extra 1,000 personnel into their call centres. "

Many, including myself, are somewhat cynical about this rearrangement of the deckchairs and whether it will actually be effective.

Over the weekend my little grey cells were stirred to life with the memory of something that happened in March 2011, on the watch of Homer's predecessor the late Lesley Strathie.

Here is an extract of a transcript of evidence given to the Treasury Committee on 16 March 2011 by Strathie.

Can you spot the similarity between what she promised to do, and what Homer has just promised to do?

"Q217 Andrea Leadsom: That is very reassuring. It would certainly be very helpful to have some information on what you target and what you are achieving against those targets.

Can you talk us through your stated intention to recruit 1,000 extra contact centre staff between April and September to deal with volumes? Is that happening already? Where are you going to recruit those people from? How will they be trained?

Lesley Strathie: We will recruit them, first and foremost, from staff who require redeployment from other areas of the business, where that is shrinking. One of the things we have done in response to staff morale is to remove all the barriers right across the department to people applying from one business line to another. We think that will probably attract about 25% of those posts. The other 75% we will recruit using the Government’s job-broking agency, Jobcentre Plus, as the main deliverer of those people.

Q218 Andrea Leadsom: How will they be trained?
 

Lesley Strathie: We have very specific training for contact centre staff. It has been a fairly ring-fenced part of the business since HMRC started to move work to the telephone.

Q219 Andrea Leadsom: You don’t have any concerns about the quality of the call centre training?

Lesley Strathie: Yes, I have a lot of concerns because we have so many different business lines and, in its history, the department has constantly moved things on to the telephone. The purpose of bringing these 1,000 people in is because we moved the renewals of tax credits, which is an annual process when we need to establish that people are still entitled and calculate the final award, and because of that peak business on the telephone. 

While we want to make sure that the customers that have suffered through the stabilisation of PAYE don’t get a deteriorating service, we feel we have to meet that peak, which is through July. So we need to bring them in and train them, but we will be training these staff on specific areas of business, not right across the whole 14 lines."

Yes, that's right, she promised to "recruit" an additional 1,000 staff!

A few questions spring to mind:

- Were these people ever recruited?

- If so, where were they recruited from?

- Did they need a high level of training?

- Did they really add value to the call centre performance?

- Why does HMRC think that another 1,000 will resolve the issue, if the previous 1,000 did not?

- What is the definition of insanity?

I'll give you a clue to the last question:

It's repeating an action (that has in the past failed), in the deluded expectation that this time it will work!

Tax does have to be taxing.



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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"

The Skinny on Lin Homer - All You Ever Wanted To Know, But Were Too Afraid To Ask

Those of you who want to know a little bit more about the new boss of HMRC, Lin Homer, may find these few snippets to be of interest.

In 2005 Birmingham was declared to be a "banana republic" by the Election Commission.

For why?

Wholesale electoral fraud in the council elections.

The Election Commission ruled that Labour had been responsible for “massive, systematic and organised postal ballot fraud.”

He then made a few choice remarks about the Chief Returning Officer, also the chief executive of the council.

She had "thrown the rule book out of the window”.

To whom did he refer?

Why none other than Lin Homer.

Labour helped her out by making her head of the UK Borders Agency.

This being the very same UKBA that threw the rule book out of the window and relaxed border controls.

Lin, clearly a career minded woman, moved on from there this summer (just before the shit hit the fan) and became Permanent Secretary at the Department of Transport.

Now she moves to HMRC!

Tax does have to be taxing.

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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"

Dave Hartnett's Gone

I understand that Dave "Jack" Hartnett has resigned...ermm I mean "retired".

From the BBC:

"The controversial head of the UK tax authority - Dave Hartnett - will retire in the summer of 2012, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has announced. 

From January, the permanent secretary of tax, who turns 61 in February, will work with a new HMRC chief executive - Lin Homer.

Ms Homer is permanent secretary at the Department for Transport.

She takes over from Lesley Strathie, who stepped down last month on health grounds, the tax authority said.

Last month, Mr Hartnett admitted to a committee of MPs that mistakes had been made in a tax deal negotiated by HMRC with Goldman Sachs.

And in September last year, he apologised to 1.4 million people who were receiving letters revealing an underpayment of tax. This came hours after a refusal to apologise brought severe criticism. "

Anyone know what he is getting in terms of payoff, pension and non executive board appointments etc?

Tax does have to be taxing.

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HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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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"

Dame Lesley Strathie Steps Down

As first predicted on this site in August, Dame Lesley Strathie is stepping down from her role as CEO of HMRC.

It seems, according to media reports, she has cancer and her health is deteriorating.

HMRC (note they have yet to announce Strathie's departure on their website) state that Clasper will provide "leadership" and Dave Hartnett will continue to act as interim principal accounting officer.

Tax does have to be taxing.

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HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

GOD's Retirement Message

My thanks to the loyal reader who posted GOD's (Gus O'Donnell) retirement message (see below).

I wonder if GOD has had time to sort out the paperwork for Strathie's new job?

"I wanted to let you know that I am announcing my retirement today, after over six years as Cabinet Secretary, Head of the Civil Service and Permanent Secretary of the Cabinet Office. I will be leaving the civil service at the end of the year.

I have really enjoyed my time at the Cabinet Office and am extremely proud of the highly professional work that you do right at the centre of government. I have been a civil servant for 32 years and remain convinced of the importance of our traditional values of honesty, objectivity, impartiality and integrity in underpinning all the work that we do.

Turning to the future, we are taking the opportunity to restructure roles at the top. The Cabinet Office has expanded and taken on new responsibilities since the election. In recognition of this, it will be led by a dedicated Permanent Secretary. Ian Watmore, currently head of the Efficiency and Reform Group, will take on this role. Jeremy Heywood will take over as Cabinet Secretary. There will no longer be a Permanent Secretary at No.10. The role of Head of the Civil Service will be taken on by one of the current departmental Permanent Secretaries, after a competition. He or she will provide leadership to the civil service alongside their existing departmental responsibilities.

I would like to thank you all for your continuing hard work and commitment to public service. These are difficult times, but I am confident that you will continue to demonstrate professionalism and pace in facing the challenge of delivering better services with fewer resources. I am also sure that you will provide my successors with the same enthusiastic support which you have given me, and for which I am so grateful."



Tax does have to be taxing.

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HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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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"

HMRC Staff Survey - Political Arm Twisting

Following on from my article about the fall in percentage responses to the HMRC staff survey (down from 69% to 52%), Taxation have published an interesting report about the political arm twisting that went on behind the scenes in the run up to this year's HMRC staff survey.

Loyal readers will doubtless recall that in April this year, Steve Lamey of Excom set the cat amongst the pigeons by stating that offices with low engagement scores would be closed.

Taxation made a Freedom of Information Act request, and obtained correspondence received and sent from the office of HMRC CEO Lesley Strathie. The correspondence shows, unsurprisingly, that PCS and ARC received complaints from members who were somewhat "underwhelmed" by Lamey's remarks.

The Grande Dame then went on to issue an intranet message, saying that poor engagement would be considered only because it made offices less productive. HMRC’s media relations department went into damage limitation mode and prepared a media statement, which claimed:

"Staff engagement does not decide where we maintain a physical presence".

It then went on to deny what had previously been stated by Lamey about survey scores being a criterion in closures.

However, here's a subtle twist, the Grande Dame's orifice then edited the draft release, removing the first claim and amending the second to reiterate that ‘employee engagement on its own would never determine an office’s future’.

Aha, a subtle change wouldn't you agree?

However, it doesn't end there.

On 17 May (the week in which the unions’ conferences were discussing boycott motions) the Grande Dame was summoned to the Cabinet Office.

Can you guess what happened next children?

Yes, that's right, the Grande Dame was forced to make another amendment.

Quote:

"Decisions on office closures are only taken [sic] after exhaustive consideration of a wide range of factors, but People Survey scores are not one of those factors."

Having done her masters' bidding, the Grande Dame was rewarded with an email from the Cabinet Secretary’s office saying that the statement it was ‘a very good note’.

Now that was rather an interesting story wasn't it?

It seems to me that HMRC's political masters can see that things are near breaking point, but that Excom still have their heads firmly buried in the sand.

So, who is really calling the shots now in HMRC, Excom or the Cabinet Orifice?




Tax does have to be taxing.

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HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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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"

Downfall

Such is the perceived mess that HMRC is in, and the animosity felt by many towards Dave "Jack" Hartnett, that GOD, or to give him his mortal name Gus O'Donnell (the cabinet secretary) is to investigate demands from senior MPs for a fundamental reform of HMRC.

The Guardian reports that Margaret Hodge, the chairman of the public accounts committee, met with GOD and told him that he had to consider how to bring greater accountability to HMRC's dealings with big business.

Some MPs are now claiming that Hartnett was "out of control", and that there were no effective checks and balances on him in Whitehall or Westminster.

Well, 20/20 hindsight is all very well and dog whistle politicians do rather love to attack wounded animals. However, I would venture to suggest a few points:

1 Hartnett's behaviour, and HMRC's issues, have been widely publicised for a number of years. Were these same MPs all asleep during this period?

2 HMRC is (theoretically) under the control of Parliament. Therefore the failings of HMRC and its senior officers are (when the "final buck is placed upon the table") attributable to our "respected" elected representatives.

3 These elected representatives, who are howling for blood, are the very same people who have devised our "buggers' muddle" of a tax system, merged IR with Customs, ordered the restructuring and cuts within HMRC, appointed people such as Strathie and Hartnett and generally enjoy various tax privileges and avoidance schemes that the rest of us are not privy to.

Hartnett refuses to answer journalists' questions about his arrangements with Vodafone and Goldman, saying that taxpayers' affairs must be confidential.

Hodge on the other hand has said that she wanted O'Donnell to accept that corporations were not entitled to the same privacy rights as individuals.

The public accounts committee also wants HMRC to be accountable to the National Audit Office, and for the NAO to have the right to brief MPs in confidence about controversial decisions. HMRC refuses to give the auditors detailed accounts of big tax disputes, once again citing the need for confidentiality.

As you can see, this is developing into a power struggle between Parliament and HMRC. This is rather ironic, given that HMRC is meant only to be a bureaucratic arm of government responsible for the efficient and cost effective gathering of taxes.

Something, somewhere in the past seems to have given HMRC ambitions above its "position" in the grand scheme of things.

Whatever the outcome of the battle between HMRC and Parliament, Jack's position has become untenable.

All lofty ambitions end one day, shattered and decaying into dust.

Tax does have to be taxing.

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HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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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"

GOD Quitting

The above breaking news may be of interest to some of my loyal readers.

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

Hearts and Minds III Psy Ops

I see that HMRC are applying the "hard cop/soft cop" approach wrt their ongoing Psy Ops in the build up towards the commencement of the annual staff survey.

On the "soft cop" side they have, as we have seen from my earlier articles, been showing "concern" for personnel issues eg:

- Awards ceremonies and nominations,
- "Campus" events to show "engagement" (with sweet wrappers!)
- Almost weekly reviews of the success stories associated with the engagement activities,
- Caring approaches to HSW and DDA/EQA issues, training for managers (mandatory) better guidance for managers etc.

Not forgetting the in house reminder that staff should still send emails to the Grande Dame (HMRC cannot tell staff that she is leaving until at least the survey is completed).

On the "hard cop" side HMRC have announced various office closures/relocations eg:

- 2 Broadway, Birmingham
- New Enterprise House, Chadwell Heath
- Centurion House, Dover
- Dobson House, Newcastle
- 22 Kingsway, London
- Hollinswood House, Telford

Additionally, HMRC have also played hard ball with PCS (could this be a double bluff perhaps, to shore up PCS's reputation as an "independent" force standing up for the rights of the workers?) as this account of the rather bizarre meeting on 1 September between PCS and the head of HMRC's DMTC shows.

The purpose of such "schizophrenic" tactics is to sow confusion and fear, those who are fearful and confused are more easily manipulated!

You have been warned!

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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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"

Hearts and Minds

As my loyal readers know, it is soon time (the 26th of September to be precise) for the annual HMRC survey to begin.

As to when the other civil service surveys begin remains to be seen. However, if they begin later than HMRC's, then we can conclude that HMRC is still classified as "special".

Anyhoo, the powers that be within HMRC are keen to ensure that the results from this year's survey are markedly different from last year's (ie that HMRC don't rank 103rd in the list of civil service departments).

How are the powers that be ensuring that this year's results will be markedly better?

Well, aside from firing off some distracting chaff about Lesley Strathie coming back to her job, they have also been busy waging a "hearts and minds" campaign on the "shop floor".

My thanks to a loyal reader who posted a neat synopsis of the "hearts and minds" campaign being waged:

"I would ask HMRC staffers to point out to their less aware colleagues the following

Have you had more meetings with "senior" managers in the last two week? ( by senior I mean at least SO or above if you are in operations)

Have you been subjected to "success" stories in a hastily cobbled together in some form of e-mail attachment with "real" experiences if staff and how wonderful the organisation is at listening?

Have you suddenly had local management being ever so caring and empathising with "people issues" recently?

Have you noticed if uncomfortable issues are suddenly important and are considered "serious" after having been ignored for months (years) on end?

If you have noticed one, some or any of the above, welcome to People Survey week. 

I have noticed all of the above. 

It is a desperate last throw of the dice and I am uncomfortable with having to do it as I know the structure has not altered yet.

In my opinion, this is an attempt to influence the survey results in a last mad dash to provide upbeat stories and feel good news. 

It is no coincidence, again it is my own opinion, that the announcement of 1100 jobs in compliance happened last week. Have a few thousand staff in operations chasing those jobs and distract them from the reality around. 

This is blood and circuses. 

The Romans were an astute lot to give the "games" to the mob to stop them rising up. HMRCs blood and circuses are designed to have the same effect.

Sad thing is, I can see it working in the people I manage."

In my view the only way there will be any chance of a positive improvement within HMRC, is if the staff survey is filled in by as many people as possible as honestly as possible; and that the results are then not manipulated/distorted by those with a vested interest in maintaining their fiefdoms.

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

Curiouser and Curiouser II

My thanks to the loyal reader who posted the text of Lesley Strathie's News Board message to the troops, telling them all to keep sending her emails (see below).

It seems The Grande Dame wrote it in a hurry (as there is a grammatical error - well spotted by the loyal reader!).

The underlying "message" within the message is that she wants you to believe that she is coming back.

She is not coming back.

As to the precise date of the announcement of her departure, GOD knows.

The Kremlinologists amongst my loyal readers may want to think about that.

The text:

 "As I explained my message (sic) to you on 19 July, whilst I am out of the office, Mike Clasper, HMRCs non-executive chairman, will provide leadership and direction to the Department on my behalf as Chief Executive. Dave Hartnett, Permanent Secretary for Tax, has taken on the role of Principal Accounting Officer (PAO) on an interim basis, and will be accountable for the Department's performance and the money we collect and spend.

Although the work is being managed differently for a while, emails should continue to be directed to me, and my Office will either action, or re-allocate to Dave Hartnett or Mike Clasper accordingly. 

This is important for ensuring there is a clear handover and audit trail for my return.

I very much look forward to being back with you all in the autumn."

Finished with a flourish of a photocopied signature of DLS, dated 31 August 2011.

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

Curiouser and Curiouser

My thanks to a loyal reader who posted a comment (see below) about a seemingly innocuous announcement on HMRC's newsboard advising staff to keep sending emails to Dame Lesley Strathie.

Why ask staff to keep sending her emails?

Have staff stopped sending her emails?

Or is this a piece of diversionary chaff, designed to torpedo (or at least cast doubt on) the now well publicised news that Dame Lesley is leaving?

Whatever the internal news management team in HMRC are trying to do here, I can assure you that she is not going to return.

PERIOD!

Text of the comment below:

"Well well well,

On the Newsboard this week, "please keep sending e-mails to Lesley Strathie and her team will forward them on to the appropriate people. This will keep an audit trail so Lesley can address any issues upon her return from sick leave"!!!!

I have paraphrased the above and it is the gist of the message from memory.

There is something going on here. 

Why have such a meaningless message on the news board? 

How many staff can this possibly affect? 

Is it a response to Ken's earlier posts about the imminent departure of the pantomime dame?

Very curious indeed."

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

Failure

My thanks to a loyal reader for alerting us to the this rather interesting piece of information.

"To add to the mix they are recruiting a new Head of Chief Executives Private Office (G6) and Private Secretary to the Chief Executive (G7) - both posts are currently filled by staff who came across from DWP when DLS got the job. So why are they advertising the posts again? Could it be that all three are transferring?"

The comment was made in relation to my article about Lesley Strathie's soon to be announced departure for pastures "new" in a civil service position where she will "champion the improvement of front line services across the Civil Service, and lead the development of the profession across government".

Clearly her two loyal retainers are leaving with her.

Anyhoo, with such a change at the top, this is as good a time as any to muse a while as to how we got to where we are now, and why the Grande Dame has failed (even though her "new" role will be used as a cover by the politicians to avoid the use of the word "failure").

by happen-stance a loyal reader reminded me about an article that appeared in the Guardian in February 2010, which covered Lesley Strathie's response to the damning review from the Cabinet Office (noting the changes that Excom had already made to improve processes and structures within the organisation - remember this was written in February 2010).

The Cabinet Office review was based on the results of the second people survey in 2009 (2010's results were in fact much worse). As can be seen from the article, Strathie's strategy was to "harness" the enthusiasm and talent of local management as a driver for change.

"No less than one would expect, of course, and a fair recognition that the right efforts have been made by those who will further drive her vision going forward. But, as any change expert will support, the main barriers to implementing change tend to be not the visionaries at the top of the organisation, nor the 'workers' as a complete group but those who see change as a threat to their career ambitions or a challenge to a comfortable status quo.

The wrong job, the wrong way, for too long

Staff within HMRC are well known for their tenacity and passion to do a great job. However, despite all the change that the organisation has undergone over the last few years, many still feel that they have been doing the wrong job, the wrong way, for too long. The key to successful change is usually to be found in engaging key operational staff, then motivating them to drive the whole process forward quickly and effectively.

This in turn requires a clear view, not just of the strategic goals but also a comprehensively-thought-through model for the entire new organisation, which encompasses vision, strategic performance measures, organisational structures, new projects and business-as-usual activities, together with the right combination of skills, competencies and behaviours needed by all staff.

More important than any of these areas individually is the need to demonstrate clear alignment between all of them. Research shows that organisations that do not seek this rarely achieve their performance goals; whereas those that do, often achieve 200%+ of their targets.

As Strathie recognised in her comments, top-down and bottom-up alignment are vital to the future success of the organisation.

If HMRC staff understand the organisation's goals at strategic and operational level, they will also understand how their own job contributes to those goals, and they are likely to be well-motivated and strive even harder to achieve their own targets.

The Cabinet Office review stated that at least one layer of management remains more likely to be focused on building the profile of their own area (and themselves) than looking out across the silos for the good of the department as a whole.

This is unlikely to change until they feel that their advancement is clearly linked to HMRC's overall success. Strathie's comments suggest that this will be one of the first areas to which she will turn her attention.

The answer for HMRC lies in governance, leadership and culture – harnessing the passion and work ethic of the majority of staff and persuading or redeploying those who see no need for change. The kind of detailed alignment model I mentioned earlier is at the heart of such a programme – but time to implement it fully is limited, given the proximity of the General Election which tends to change everyone's priorities."

One and a half years on, with worsening engagement scores, poor performance and Strathie's departure whilst still on sick leave, what went wrong with that strategy?

The reality of harnessing management enthusiasm and talent requires there to be enthusiasm and talent at management level, sadly this does not exist in bucket loads at that level in HMRC (as has been noted many times on this site, and as Excom are now realising).

Excom assumed they had the talent from SO and above to understand the strategy, they didn't. The recent capability reviews now show in black and white that HMRC is starved of talent at this level.

Why is HMRC starved of talent at this level?

Go back in time to when Gordon Brown was Chancellor, and when he was looking for efficiency savings.

The Labour government of the day moved swathes of the Civil Service to the provinces (oddly enough Labour heartlands!).

Many experienced HMRC managers opted to take the very generous redundancy packages, rather than move to the provinces. The result being an expanded set of regional offices with no managerial competencies.

To add to the mix, the merger of the Inland Revenue and Customs resulted in chaos; as managers with no experience of tax/customs were put in charge of people without understanding he reality of their day to day jobs (the buzz word was "pure management", a tax manager could manage a customs department and vice versa).

Promotion through "learning the ropes" disappeared, especially in Personal Tax due to the lack of experienced managerial talent. Inexperienced managers suddenly had to recruit and backfill (replace leaving managers), without understanding business principles or any oversight of their decisions.

This has resulted in personal fiefdoms being created where sycophantic jobsworths are in control (see the comments made on this site over the years by HMRC staff). Pacesetter was used/manipulated by the management dross to fortify their fiefdoms. Excom have belatedly realised that Pacesetter has been manipulated, but will not fully abandon it. Instead local management are being by-passed in an attempt by Excom to see reality.

Whilst it does not take that long to inflict damage referred to above on an organisation, rectifying it will take a very long time and will not be for the faint-hearted.

HMRC have committed to their political masters that the results of the staff survey in 2012 (due to be published in Q1 2013) will be significantly better than the current appalling results.

The sad reality facing HMRC is that removing the deadwood of underperforming management will take longer than a year, and positive effects on staff morale/efficiencies/tax take etc etc will not be evident by the 2013 deadline.

HMRC now face the very real risk of being declared "unfit for purpose".

Tax does have to be taxing.

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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

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Something For The Weekend - Hail Hail Thane of Cawdor III

Following on from my recent article about "Jack" Hartnett and the demise of the Grande Dame, I have been pondering how the government will remove her (whilst she is still on sick leave) without admitting that she has been removed from office for failure.

The answer is in fact staring us all in the face, and is in the public domain.

Lesley Strathie is currently the cross-government Head of the Operational Delivery Profession.

Evidently running HMRC is not challenging or time consuming enough!

The Grande Dame's role as the Head of Profession is to champion the improvement of front line services across the Civil Service, and to lead the development of the profession across government.

An organogram of her role can be found on this link.

Given that she already has a role set up outside of HMRC it will be but a simple matter to "beef up the role" a little, and formally transfer her across (doubtless at an inflated salary) without ever admitting that she has been fired or removed from office for failure.

In short, in order to avoid the massive embarrassment of admitting failure, it looks as though the government will reward her for failure.

It is of course ironic that during a time of cuts and austerity the taxpayers will be asked to fund another meaningless "new" quango, run by a failure. However, it seems that our political leaders "enjoy" being "ironic"!

The above is of course mere speculation on my part.

Several questions now spring to mind, if my speculation is correct:

1 When will our political "elite" bother to tell us about this move?

2 How much will the Grande Dame be paid in her new role?

3 Will she be given a "redundancy" payment from HMRC?

4 How much will the new quango cost the taxpayer?

5 Is this a "real" job, or merely a means to avoid publicly admitting that she and HMRC have failed?

6 What is the mission of the "new" quango?

7 Does the "new" quango have a hope in hell of succeeding? (answer: "No")

8 Who else is for the chop, and at what cost to the taxpayer?

Tax does have to be taxing.

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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"

Something For The Weekend - Hail Hail Thane of Cawdor II

It is clear that the Grande Dame is on her way out.

She currently wears the crown, and the pretender to the throne is "Jack" Hartnett.

However, I have a question for you all to ponder:

Is "Jack" the Thane of Cawdor (in which case who is Banquo?),



or is "Jack" Richard?



The scene is set, now let us enjoy the play!

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
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Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

Something For The Weekend - Hail Hail Thane of Cawdor

As the weekend makes a very welcome appearance over the horizon of a particularly long and tedious week, what do you make of the gossip about Dave "Jack" Hartnett being lined up to takeover from The Grande Dame?

Could it be that his public promise to HMRC staff the other day, about what will happen to staff survey results, was a sign of a power shift?

Could it be that the Grande Dame's protracted sick leave will be used as a diversion to quietly shuffle her off with a massive payoff?

What do you, my loyal readers, think/know is going on behind the scenes?

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

Boycott

Taxation reports that HMRC staff members may boycott the department's next employee satisfaction survey.

For why?

It seems that offices that score poorly in the survey may be first in line for closure.

I guess the "incentive" scheme devised by HMRC management, of closing low scoring offices, is meant to encourage employees to improve the "engagement scores" etc.

How amusing that it has so publicly backfired!

The issue of low scoring offices being closed was reported on here in April. At the time HMRC back-pedalled furiously, to try to extricate itself from its own shit.

HMRC told Taxation:

"The... survey helps senior managers to understand what the key issues are for HMRC’s employees. We do not use the survey’s results to select offices for closure."

All very well, maybe, if the survey results are genuine and if the results are passed on to senior managers and Excom without being manipulated.

The question is, are the results genuine, and are the results passed on without being manipulated?

Feel free to comment.

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

HMRC Put The F Into Failure

Well then, what a "giddy" world it is in HMRC!

For many years this site has been pointing out the inefficiencies and failures of HMRC, comments from staff and loyal readers show that the edifice that is HMRC is crumbling day by day.

Finally those with some alleged "control" over HMRC (ie the politicians) have woken up to the ongoing car crash that is HMRC.

On 30th July (a Saturday for some reason, surely not trying to hide the report were they?) the Treasury Select Committee published a report into the administration and effectiveness of HMRC.

Unsurprisingly it found that there is considerable dissatisfaction among the public and tax professionals with the service provided by the Department. The committee is concerned that if this continues it may undermine respect for the tax system.

Quite!

Serious concerns were reported in a number of areas, all of which have featured many times on this site, including:

- Unacceptable difficulties contacting HMRC by phone during peak periods
- Endemic delays in responding to post
- An increasing focus on online communication that may exclude those without reliable internet access

"we do not accept the Department's explanation that these problems are primarily the result of reconciling of multiple PAYE tax years at once. There is a serious risk that if communicating with HMRC becomes too time-consuming, difficult and expensive, respect for the tax system, and with it voluntary compliance, may be undermined....

The National Insurance and PAYE Service should ultimately make PAYE work more effectively and ensure efficiencies across the Department. However, the problems resulting from its flawed implementation have done significant damage to the public perception of HMRC and the tax system more generally...

Implementing RTI before the system and its interface into HMRC have been properly tested could led to greater delays later on and further damage public confidence in the Department and the tax system. ...

HMRC operates under significant pressures. It has to implement increasingly complex tax legislation, sometimes developed without full account of the practical consequences, whilst undergoing restructuring, delivering substantial resource reductions and job cuts....

We received disturbing evidence of job cuts being made before the efficiencies that were intended to enable them had been delivered, and of a culture of command and control that disengages staff and prevents potential problems from being dealt with effectively. ...

Whilst staff remain dedicated to their work despite the pressures HMRC is under, they have little confidence in the leadership of the Department or that change will be for the better. This has been a long-running problem for the Department. Whilst senior management are very aware of the problem and have made efforts to improve engagement, there has been little evidence of any positive impact to date. "

The committee made recommendations in the following areas:

- Improving the service provided by contact centres, particularly in relation to escalating complex queries and providing alternatives to 0845 numbers
- Providing robust alternative to online contact, including more cost-effective ways of providing face-to-face advice
- Ensuring greater awareness of the impact of process changes on individuals and businesses, in particular recommending senior staff spend time with tax practices, charities and businesses
- Ensuring reductions in resources are managed in a way that is commensurate with the enabling IT and process improvements and minimises the loss of Departmental tax expertise
- Reviewing the division of responsibilities between HMRC and HM Treasury in relation to making tax policy, to ensure practical considerations are taken into account at the earliest possible stage
- Better targeting of letters that threaten serious consequences against individuals
- Having the National Audit Office externally audit preparations for Real-time Information, to ensure Ministers can be held accountable for progress against the Government’s ambitious timetable
- Examining how the Department can achieve better accountability around the settlement of large tax cases

Loyal readers will find none of the above at all surprising. The only real surprise is that it has taken this long for someone to officially admit (albeit politicians passing the buck) that there is something wrong.

Oddly enough Dame Lesley Strathie is off on 3 months sick leave. Thus leaving the response/excuse to Clasper.

Here is what he said to the BBC:

"Stand back and look at the other side of the equation..., receipts £468 billion, £33 billion than more than the year before..." (BBC

All very nice, maybe. Except that there is one small fly in his oinkment.

In 2007-08 receipts were £461.6 billion (only £6.4 billion difference between this year and 2008). Receipts were in fact falling since 2007/08, and are only back now to where they were before.

Anyhoo, as noted many times on this site, the fundamental problems wrt HMRC stem from a.o.:

- insufficient resources of the right quality in the right place
- a botched merger
- lousy management (appointed by management)
- an absurdly complex tax system etc etc.

All of the above issues are in the remit of the politicians, until the politicians get their act together and admit responsibility this mess will never be sorted out. Unfortunately the politicians will not do this, and will continue to pass the buck.

Things will only get worse!

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

Something For The Weekend - A State of Denial

I will be writing something tomorrow about the recent news re HMRC's performance.

However, in the meantime, I understand (I did not hear it myself, so please tell me if I have this wrong) that George Moody MP said yesterday on The Today Programme (Radio 4) that when Dame Leslie has appeared before the Commons committee before he always thought she was in denial.

Methinks that her opinion will have to change, if she returns to work after her sick leave.

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"

HMRC's Oscars

I am gemused to read that HMRC has decided to treat its long suffering staff to an evening out on 29th September.

The Sun reports that HMRC will be holding an in house awards night and sleepover for 100 of its top performers at a country retreat in Lincolnshire (authorised by Lesley Strathie no less), at a cost of £13K.

HMRC are of the view that staff have "gone the extra mile for the taxpayer", as such 8 "gongs" (including "Customer Service") will be awarded.

I don't question that rewarding staff for good performance is a good thing. However, I am not entirely convinced that an "Oscar" night will really be that meaningful to the staff, nor do I think that the political ramifications of taxpayers funding this event (given the performance and "brand reputation" of HMRC) have been entirely thought through.

Tax does have to be taxing.

UK EXPATS: Reduce tax on UK Pensions
HMRC QROPS provider. Unlock your UK pension and access a 25% lump sum today.

Quote ID code "ABC" when contacting a QROPS specialist.

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"