By Mark Smulian
16 September 2010
Revenue & Customs was forced to defend its competence to MPs this week
following the controversy over mistaken personal tax bills.
Some 1.4 million taxpayers are expected to receive unexpected bills after
R&C checked payments for the past two years, although some 4 million will
receive rebates.
At a Treasury select committee hearing on September 15, Labour member Chuka
Umunna said every MP had been contacted by worried constituents. He asked: ‘Is
HMRC fit for purpose?’
Labour’s John Mann told R&C chief executive Dame Lesley Strathie: ‘Your
staff morale is the lowest of any organisation in Britain, you have been
closing offices and losing staff, you’re dysfunctional, aren’t you?’
Strathie said she had ‘confidence in my workforce’ but conceded ‘there is an
issue over staff engagement’.
She added: ‘Our staff put a very high value on the work they do. But there is a
considerable amount of change.’
Some 12,500 jobs have been lost at the department since 2005 and a further
2,000 are due to go. Asked by Mann whether this would leave the agency unable
to do its job, Strathie said: ‘I believe we will be able to cope with fewer
staff.’
The tax bills problem follows installation of a new computer system in 2009.
The department did not reconcile PAYE payments and liabilities while it was
being tested.
Strathie said ministers had been aware of the issue since July and the previous government had known of last year’s missing reconciliations.
