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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/public-leaders-network/2018/jan/27/go-easy-on-hmrc-staff-were-battling-against-brexit-chaos-tax-return
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| Version 7 | Version 8 |
|---|---|
| Go easy on HMRC staff. We're battling against Brexit chaos | Go easy on HMRC staff. We're battling against Brexit chaos |
| (5 days later) | |
| Working for HMRC was never going to be a popular choice – even my own parents were disparaging when I opted to dismiss stockbroking and begin my lifelong affair with all things tax. | Working for HMRC was never going to be a popular choice – even my own parents were disparaging when I opted to dismiss stockbroking and begin my lifelong affair with all things tax. |
| Lots of people will be filing their tax returns at the moment and the press are ready to jump on us at every available opportunity – whether for call handling times, to discuss the way we handle large businesses, or for tales of computers crashing on tax return and tax credit deadline days. | Lots of people will be filing their tax returns at the moment and the press are ready to jump on us at every available opportunity – whether for call handling times, to discuss the way we handle large businesses, or for tales of computers crashing on tax return and tax credit deadline days. |
| It can be a thankless job, but I have worked for HMRC for over 30 years – I currently head up the trade union that represents senior staff – and I can assure you: my colleagues have never worked as hard for the public as they do now. Why? Brexit. | It can be a thankless job, but I have worked for HMRC for over 30 years – I currently head up the trade union that represents senior staff – and I can assure you: my colleagues have never worked as hard for the public as they do now. Why? Brexit. |
| Since June 2016, when the UK voted to leave the EU, we’ve faced a long hard slog to make the Brexit promises a reality. | Since June 2016, when the UK voted to leave the EU, we’ve faced a long hard slog to make the Brexit promises a reality. |
| We do not know what scenario we will leave the EU with – and yet every eventuality has to be planned for by staff | We do not know what scenario we will leave the EU with – and yet every eventuality has to be planned for by staff |
| Our customer compliance managers have daily contact with multinational businesses concerned with how Brexit might affect them. But they have nothing helpful to say because nothing concrete is known. Imagine, too, answering the telephone in our call centres to those EU nationals who are worried that they might not be able to stay in the UK – and being unable to give them any comfort. | Our customer compliance managers have daily contact with multinational businesses concerned with how Brexit might affect them. But they have nothing helpful to say because nothing concrete is known. Imagine, too, answering the telephone in our call centres to those EU nationals who are worried that they might not be able to stay in the UK – and being unable to give them any comfort. |
| Meanwhile, within days of the referendum, our solicitors were asked to carry out a highly complex legal analysis, with an unfeasibly short deadline, on the implications of leaving the EU. Imagine how they had to juggle their existing legal workload – with time limits that cannot be missed because they are set by the courts – with the extra burden of Brexit. | Meanwhile, within days of the referendum, our solicitors were asked to carry out a highly complex legal analysis, with an unfeasibly short deadline, on the implications of leaving the EU. Imagine how they had to juggle their existing legal workload – with time limits that cannot be missed because they are set by the courts – with the extra burden of Brexit. |
| Since the Brexit vote, staff have been siphoned away from their existing jobs to form a number of new teams. These include a new team to produce the legislation that customs work will need and a new unit for the border work required. | Since the Brexit vote, staff have been siphoned away from their existing jobs to form a number of new teams. These include a new team to produce the legislation that customs work will need and a new unit for the border work required. |
| But they are working in the dark because at the moment they do not know what scenario we will leave the EU with – and every eventuality has to be planned for. At some point we will have to jump, but we don’t yet know how high. | But they are working in the dark because at the moment they do not know what scenario we will leave the EU with – and every eventuality has to be planned for. At some point we will have to jump, but we don’t yet know how high. |
| HMRC staff are doing their day job, which funds public services, as well as overhauling old systems, getting ready for leaving the EU – and doing it all with a flawed pay and reward structure in which two people doing the same job can get paid significantly different salaries. | HMRC staff are doing their day job, which funds public services, as well as overhauling old systems, getting ready for leaving the EU – and doing it all with a flawed pay and reward structure in which two people doing the same job can get paid significantly different salaries. |
| For example, two profits tax specialists I know, dealing with exactly the same complexity of cases, have a salary difference of around £7,000 because one is at the top of the salary range and the other is at the bottom. | For example, two profits tax specialists I know, dealing with exactly the same complexity of cases, have a salary difference of around £7,000 because one is at the top of the salary range and the other is at the bottom. |
| We are already an overworked organisation that has shed thousands of staff over the past decade. When we formed in 2005 we had over 90,000 staff; in 2016 we had around 61,000. This number is anticipated to further reduce in the current spending review because HMRC, along with the rest of the public sector, is being asked to make further efficiency savings. | We are already an overworked organisation that has shed thousands of staff over the past decade. When we formed in 2005 we had over 90,000 staff; in 2016 we had around 61,000. This number is anticipated to further reduce in the current spending review because HMRC, along with the rest of the public sector, is being asked to make further efficiency savings. |
| MPs on both sides back tax break for referendum campaign donors | |
| While some prominent Brexit-backers like to give us a good kicking, those same politicians haven’t exactly rushed to acknowledge that the department needs extra resources – neither have they opened up the public purse to give the resources and the pay so desperately needed to deliver Brexit. | While some prominent Brexit-backers like to give us a good kicking, those same politicians haven’t exactly rushed to acknowledge that the department needs extra resources – neither have they opened up the public purse to give the resources and the pay so desperately needed to deliver Brexit. |
| • Vicky Johnson is the president of the Association of Revenue & Customs (ARC) which is part of the FDA. | • Vicky Johnson is the president of the Association of Revenue & Customs (ARC) which is part of the FDA. |
| This series aims to give a voice to the staff behind the public services that are hit by mounting cuts and rising demand, and so often denigrated by the press, politicians and public. If you would like to write an article for the series, contact kirstie.brewer@theguardian.com | This series aims to give a voice to the staff behind the public services that are hit by mounting cuts and rising demand, and so often denigrated by the press, politicians and public. If you would like to write an article for the series, contact kirstie.brewer@theguardian.com |
| Sign up for your free Guardian Public Leaders newsletter with comment and sector views sent direct to you every month. Follow us: @Guardianpublic. | Sign up for your free Guardian Public Leaders newsletter with comment and sector views sent direct to you every month. Follow us: @Guardianpublic. |
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