{"id":13892,"date":"2012-01-30T12:37:31","date_gmt":"2012-01-30T12:37:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=13892"},"modified":"2012-01-30T12:37:32","modified_gmt":"2012-01-30T12:37:32","slug":"in-support-of-hmrc-staff-striking-tomorrow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2012\/01\/30\/in-support-of-hmrc-staff-striking-tomorrow\/","title":{"rendered":"In support of HMRC staff striking tomorrow"},"content":{"rendered":"

Up to 20,000 HMRC staff are\u00a0expected\u00a0to strike <\/a>at some time tomorrow. The reason why they're doing so is simple: HMRC, in the face of damning criticism of its management, has decided to bring in private contractors at two sites to handle calls from the public about their tax affairs.<\/p>\n

Wholly reasonably PCS staff are defending the taxpayer against this privatisation move which means that access to data on peoples' personal\u00a0tax\u00a0affairs\u00a0will be\u00a0handed\u00a0over to private\u00a0companies\u00a0without any adequate\u00a0protection\u00a0in place.<\/p>\n

And quite rightly PCS staff are also defending their jobs. They're hardly well paid now, but call centre operators are bound to create a profit margin in one of two ways. The first is a lower standard of training, meaning calls will be badly managed, and secondly by cutting pay. The\u00a0combination\u00a0is a disaster for the effective management of the UK tax\u00a0system\u00a0at a time when w know it has been badly managed and when we know the tax gap\u00a0might\u00a0be \u00a3120 billion a year.<\/p>\n

The result is that I support the PCS\u00a0workers\u00a0striking\u00a0tomorrow. It\u00a0is\u00a0they who are upholding the standards of public service in this country and the duty of the state to manage its tax system properly without risking the passing of data\u00a0into\u00a0the\u00a0private\u00a0sector. It's the management of HMRC who know little of tax and who think they're running a\u00a0corporate\u00a0entity who are failing the\u00a0British\u00a0public yet again. And I suspect any\u00a0sensible\u00a0person can see that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Up to 20,000 HMRC staff are\u00a0expected\u00a0to strike at some time tomorrow. The reason why they’re doing so is simple: HMRC, in the face of damning
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