It's Official - HMRC Is Shite

The Treasury - First Report

Administration and expenditure of the Chancellor's departments, 2007-08

Published January 2009

Indicates that Parliament also believes that HMRC is shite:

"We are disappointed that HRMC took 12 months to replace its Chief Executive, thereby deepening the uncertainty felt by staff members already part way through a far reaching review of HMRC's operations. We recommend that the Government ensure a full permanent senior management team is in place in HMRC as soon as possible..

We believe that having a 'Permanent Secretary for Tax' alongside the Chief Executive and Chairman of HMRC may obscure clear lines of accountability. We recommend that HMRC publish and widely circulate clear information on the respective responsibilities of its senior management team, including responsibility for data management...

It is our view that HMRC's explanation of the basis for the payment to Stuart Cruickshank is wholly inadequate. We are further unconvinced that the £88,125 received by Stuart Cruickshank represents good value for the taxpayer. We recommend that the Government ensure that all departments are adhering to best practice regarding ex-gratia payments...

We note the National Audit Office's assertion that, in order to maximise the benefits of its Transformation Programme, HMRC must convince staff of its benefits. The low levels of morale within the Department are startling with profound potential impacts on both the Transformation Programme and core service delivery. We will continue to monitor the efforts made by senior management to improve matters. We seek an explanation of how Ministers will monitor and report progress...

We are concerned that individuals without access to the internet, notably less well off or elderly taxpayers, may face increased levels of non-filing penalty charges following the revision to the paper filing deadline. We recommend that the Government should publish any analysis available to it of the demographic profile of those facing non-filing fees following the 31 October paper filing deadline. If such evidence is not available to the Government then it should be commissioned as a matter of urgency...

We recommend that HMRC disclose information regarding the financial case for individual office closures in order to allow better public scrutiny of these decisions...

We ask the Government to update the latest progress made by HMRC against Kieran Poynter's recommendations regarding information security...

We are extremely concerned by the level of fraud within HMRC. We will continue to monitor the steps taken to improve controls...

We recommend that the Government ensure the performance against agreed targets by PFI contractors is published within Departmental Annual Reports in order to enable clearer scrutiny of these recipients of public funds...

We recommend that HMRC reviews the contracts with its IT provider in the light of the very serious errors which have recently occurred and seeks financial compensation where appropriate. We regard it as wholly unsatisfactory that people entitled to Child Trust Fund payments should not have received them owing to the poor performance of an IT contractor. We seek assurances that the contracts drawn up with the PFI companies adequately allow for appropriate compensation to the taxpayer in the event of serious performance shortcomings...

We note that the introduction of HMRC's new IT system has been delayed by a year. We accept that postponing the 'go live' date until testing is complete is prudent. HMRC should publish the performance targets for the new system in terms of reduced open cases and other measures so that we may better monitor its effectiveness. "

Tax does have to be taxing.

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"

Failing Memory?

The House of Commons Treasury Sub-committee put the boot into HMRC last week, over the £88K payoff to Stuart Cruickshank (the ex CFO of HMRC).

The sum is believed to include costs for Cruickshank's legal advice and "outplacement counselling".

Cruickshank took the role in December 2006, and left in March 2008.

At the time of the announcement about his departure HMRC were reluctant to talk about how much his severance pay would be.

Now that it is out in the open, MP's are puzzled.

George Mudie MP said:

"If we are paying somebody £88K to break their contract ... they should be paying us."

Dave Hartnett told the committee that Cruickshank had not necessarily wanted to go "at that time".

How odd that, at the time, HMRC told The Times:

"Stuart Cruickshank, the Revenue claims, was on a 'standard Civil Service fixed-term appointment contract' and was always expected to leave".

Hartnett appears to have forgotten this.

Anyhoo, he has agreed to provide further details of the payout.

But added:

"We needed a chief finance officer committed to HMRC."

Odd to imply Cruickshank wasn't committed, given the article in The Gasette Autumn 2007 that I referred to in January 2008:

"The really odd thing is that reading page 12 of The Gasette (The magazine for government finance professionals) Autumn 2007, I get the distinct impression that Cruickshank, and indeed The Gasette, thought that he would be around for longer than a year".

Tax does have to be taxing.

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"

Situations Vacant

I recently asked why it is that Dave Hartnett was still only "acting" head of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

Now I know why.

HMRC, in the face of plummeting morale, are changing their complex and incomprehensible management structure to try to bring in some elements of corporate governance and efficiency from the real world.

As such, they are splitting the old role of Chairman, between a new full time position of Chief Executive and part time non executive position of Chairman.

I would ask as to why didn't they have this structure in place before?

Anyhoo, HMRC has scanned to "talent" pool within its organisation and found that it is sadly deficient; therefore the posts are being advertised in the real world.

Perversely, the vacancies are not advertised on the HMRC site, or on the Civil Service site.

Can anyone tell me when they will advertise for the position of Finance Director, which is soon to be vacated by Stuart Cruickshank?

It all seems rather muddled and vague.

Tax does have to be taxing.

HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com) is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Porkies

It would seem that the questions over Stuart Cruickshank's sudden departure from HMRC (after only one year) won't die down.

The HMRC told The Times that:

"Stuart Cruickshank, the Revenue claims, was on a 'standard Civil Service fixed-term appointment contract' and was always expected to leave".

It would seem that someone was telling porkies, or at least allowing the impression to be given that the fixed term was only one year.

The truth is somewhat different, Cruickshank was on a 3 year contract, commencing on 18 December 2006.

Don't believe me?

Take a look at HMRC 2006–07 Accounts (page 21).

The accounts go on to say he and another Director General "have standard notice periods of three months from the employee and five weeks from the employer."

He quit after only one year.

Why?

HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com) is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

The Sweet Smell of Bullshit

I am not alone in thinking that the sudden and "hush hush" (hush hush until it leaked) departure of Stuart Cruickshank (CFO of HMRC) stinks.

Martin Waller of The Times does not think the HMRC version of events holds any water at all.

"...HMRC's version of events is increasingly leaking water. Stuart Cruickshank, the Revenue claims, was on a 'standard Civil Service fixed-term appointment contract' and was always expected to leave. After 15 months? An odd fixed term....

HMRC is sticking to its fiction in the light off the above, but it simply doesn't hold up."

-Why has Cruickshank gone after such a short period in office?

-Has he been paid off?

Would someone on the inside of HMRC care to drop me a line with the real story here please?

I guarantee your anonymity.

www.hmrcisshite.com is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Data Protection

How reassuring to learn that, following on from last year's Datagate Debacle, HMRC has finally learned to be careful with individuals' personal data (or at least one individual's personal data, at any rate).

Martin Waller of The Times made some enquiries yesterday about the rather sudden, and hush hush, departure of Stuart Cruickshank (HMRC Finance Director) after only a year in the job.

When asked by Martin as to whether Cruickshank would be receiving a payoff (funded naturally by the hapless taxpayer), he was told by our ever open friends in HMRC:

"We cannot comment on the individual terms of any specific contract."

Well, as said, it is nice to see that HMRC is finally learning how to protect an individual's personal data. It is a pity though that they have forgotten the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and the fact that they work for us.

Here's an idea, why don't we all write to HMRC asking them to provide details of Cruickshank's payoff, and remind them of the FOIA?

I would like to provide an email link with their email address. Unfortunately, for reasons best known to themselves, HMRC do not want you to send them emails.

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Resignation II

Further to my earlier article today about the resignation (or "planned departure") of Stuart Cruickshank (CFO of HMRC), I am advised by one of my chums that the intranet announcement that went around HMRC yesterday quoted the acting chairman of HMRC saying that the process of finding a successor will start "shortly".

Errmmm...shouldn't they have started this a little bit earlier, especially if they knew that the guy was only on a one year contract?

It sounds to me as though neither HMRC, nor Cruickshank, knew that he was going to be leaving quite so quickly.

What a mess!

Where do I apply?

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Resignation

Stuart Cruickshank joined HMRC as CFO in December 2006, one year on it is reported in Accountancy Age that he is leaving in March to take up a number of public and private roles. There is no successor as yet.

Now here is the rather odd thing about this, it seems that his contract was only for one year.

-Why such a short tenure?

-How much has this cost the taxpayer to bring him on board, train him up then lose him?

-Why does the HMRC site not mention this yet?

-Will he be receiving a pay off?

-Given that at the outset it was known that he would only be around for one year, why has no successor been found?

-The really odd thing is that reading page 12 of The Gasette (The magazine for government finance professionals) Autumn 2007, I get the distinct impression that Cruickshank, and indeed The Gasette, thought that he would be around for longer than a year.

HMRC now have only an acting chairman, and no CFO.

What an excellent way to run an organisation!

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